


Darker Pathways

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Category: Smallville
Genre: 33.1, AU, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst with a Hopeful Ending, Betrayal, Dark Chloe Sullivan, Double Crossing, Drinking, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fingering, Fraternizing With the Enemy, Green Arrow - Freeform, Hurt Chloe, JLA - Freeform, Jealousy, Justice, Lois knows, Manipulation, Missions, Multiple Orgasms, New Year's Eve, Revenge, Secret Identities, Sexual Harassment, Sleeping with the enemy, So much angst, Teamwork, Vaginal Sex, lex luthor is a dick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:28:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 46,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24211351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: This fic is very AU from season three on, the last canon we used was the explosion of the safehouse Chloe and Gabe were taken to after Lionel's trial, although we pick and choose some other events from other seasons.
Relationships: Clark Kent/Lois Lane, Lex Luthor/Chloe Sullivan, Lois Lane & Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen & Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen & Clark Kent, Oliver Queen & Lois Lane, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Comments: 14
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

Banner: .

She had been Lex's right hand for years, it was the only job she had ever had since her work at the school newspaper, and she wasn't sure that even counted considering she didn't get paid for it.

It all started in her Junior year, when she was sixteen and helped Lex put his father in jail. She benefited from it as well, of course, the whole world did, even if it had been short-lived, just as they expected.

In the midst of helping Lex, however, she'd lost her father. He'd died in the explosion that nearly took both of their lives, but when she survived, months shy of her eighteenth birthday, Lex took her in, literally. He'd set up a room for her at the mansion and told her to make it her home. In a twisted way, Chloe knew the offer was sincere, after all he knew she was as alone now as he'd been for years.

He trusted her, Chloe was sure of that. He trusted her as much as Lex Luthor could trust anyone. And she trusted him as much as it was smart for anyone to trust Lex Luthor.

But their relationship wasn't based on trust, far from it. It was based on carefully placed need, all kinds of need. It began with Lex needing an ally then with Chloe needing a home. It didn't progress into sexual need until the night of her eighteenth birthday, when she asked him to show her what sex with a real man felt like, but even after that, the extent of their sexual relationship wasn't much.

They had only slept together twice by the time Lex started seeing her former classmate Lana Lang. That was around the time when they started having sex daily. Lex liked to go down on her, to give her as many orgasms as her body could take, to make her scream in pleasure until her throat felt raw.

And then he liked to go back to the mansion and find Lana. Lex liked to be rough with her, to withhold her orgasms, to hear her scream in pain until she couldn't take it anymore. It wasn't anything personal, of course, but what better way to punish the boy who was in love with her?

After Lana left, as expected, Chloe and Lex's physical need for each other became sporadic, if even there at all once more.

That didn't mean, however that they were seeing any less of one another. Chloe had moved out of the mansion and to one of the four LuthorCorp penthouses in Metropolis the week before she started college at MetU. Lex had wanted her to go to an Ivy League school instead but she refused, despite all the money he'd been paying her already for her research skills, she wanted to use the money her dad had worked so hard to save up for her education instead and in-state tuition was all she could afford with it.

Chloe did, however change her major from journalism to business with focus on public relations, education would be pointless regardless, but she might as well go for something remotely related to the position she was assuming.

Since her move to Metropolis, a few years ago, things did get smoother. Without Clark or any of her old so-called friends around to bother her and question her allegiance with Lex; she had had to deal with her cousin of course, but like with everything else in her life, Lois' attention had shifted away from her at a rapid pace.

Over the years, Chloe had learned a lot about living as a Luthor, she had gotten good at the games. Whenever something presented a threat to her position, she knew exactly which pieces to move to turn the game around and in her favor and every time Lex noticed this, she could see something she could only describe as pride in his eyes.

Just a few months ago, some woman named Tess Mercer had been hired by LuthorCorp, Chloe could tell she had potential in her, she'd been there for the interview, but she knew the only value Lex saw in her was her former relationship to Lex's long-time rival, Oliver Queen.

As much as Chloe hated the Star City playboy, too, she wasn't about to live with the red headed threat looming over her every move, so within a month, she had Mercer transferred to the labs at Campo Grande, in Brazil. As a marine biologist, Chloe was sure she would be delighted to find herself surrounded by nothing but land on all four sides.

But the cases in which Lex didn't notice just how good Chloe had gotten at the game were the ones that pleased her the most. Like the time when she'd worked on Lex for months until he reached the conclusion that the only way to have full control over his life was to eliminate his father.

The elder Luthor had murdered her dad all those years ago, she had never really planned on letting him get away with it, but she wasn't stupid; a part of Lex still had a bond with Lionel and unless he got rid if the man himself, he would want revenge on the killer and she simply couldn't have that.

At least this time, the world was free of Lionel Luthor for good, and they had the two of them to thank once more.


	2. Chapter 2

Banner: .

  


Oliver sat at his desk in Star City, sending off an email to a business associate in Taipei and smiling faintly as he changed programs and started going over some quarterly reports. He didn't even glance up when his office door opened, because he knew it would be his assistant, Marie. "Thanks for getting that mailing sent out early. Remind me to give you a raise," he said with a smile.

A smirk appeared on Chloe's lips as she stepped into the office, said assistant rushing behind her, "Mr. Queen." Chloe said, standing perfectly straight with a folder in her hands.

"Mr. Queen!" Marie followed, "I tried to stop her!" The red headed woman breathed as she followed the blond into the room.

He blinked and looked up, his gaze sweeping over the blond standing before him. He straightened in his chair, raising an eyebrow at her and then turning his attention to his rattled assistant. "It's all right, Marie," he assured her, rising to his feet.

Chloe gave the other woman a condescending smile and arched an eyebrow at her, watching as she walked out of the room and let the door fall shut behind her. Once the other woman was out of the way, Chloe took a step forward and her smile became more sincere, "Mr. Queen," she said again, offering him her hand, "I'm Chloe Sullivan."

Eying her guardedly, he extended his hand, as well, shaking it and keeping his eyes on her. "Miss Sullivan. What can I do for you?" he asked curiously. Not too many people barged past his assistant and into his office without an invitation or at least an appointment.

"I'm here representing Mr. Luthor," she told him, still smiling, "he would have been here himself but unfortunately his busy schedule didn't allow him to." She said, her voice neutral.

His smile cooled instantly at the name Luthor. "And to what end were you hoping for with this meeting?" he asked just as neutrally.

Her smile didn't falter, "I'm just here to let you know we have placed an offer on your company thirty minutes ago, LuthorCorp will be making Queen Industries it's subsidiary by morning."

Oliver smirked at that. "Is that a fact?" He raised his eyebrows once more.

"It is," she said, her expression soft, almost warm as she held out the folder for him, "we have already contacted your shareholders and we will be acquiring the majority of your stock overnight."

"Well. Thank you for stopping by with the tip, Miss Sullivan." He was still smirking as he tossed the folder on his desk without so much as glancing down at it. "I'm sure you can find your way out as quickly as you found your way in."

"Actually, Mr. Queen," Chloe said, taking a step forward and smiling more now, "Mr. Luthor would love to give you the opportunity to continue to work with your company once he owns it, under his supervision, of course. But he understands how important it is to be connected to your parents' legacy."

"How _sweet_ of him," he said with amusement. "Tell Mr. Luthor not to hedge his bets and remind him that his place is in _Smallville_ , not in Star City. Now run along like a good little lackey before your master misses you."

Chloe chuckled at that and shook her head, "Mr. Queen," she smiled sweetly, "assumptions like that are the reason your company stopped growing three quarters ago. You should pay more attention to details, but I suppose that won't matter anymore." She smiled more and nodded at him, "I hope you have a great day."

"We'll see whose _assumptions_ prove to be correct, Miss Sullivan." Shaking his head with a smirk, he moved over to his desk, not bothering to glance at her again.

She straightened her back and with a smirk on her face, she walked out of his office.

* * *

After reading over the contents of the folder that Lex's assistant had brought by, Oliver found himself calling Bruce Wayne, his jaw tense. "Come on," he grumbled, waiting for the other man to pick up.

"Wayne." Bruce answered after a few more rings, once he had successfully secured the call.

"Took you long enough," Oliver muttered, rubbing a hand over his face.

"I already bought out thirty-five percent of the shares he was planning on buying," Bruce informed him.

He blinked, then relaxed a little in his chair. He should have known Bruce would already know what was going on. Bruce _always_ knew what was going on. It used to unnerve him. "Thank you," he said, this time his voice sincere.

Bruce smirked slightly at that, "I might even sell them back to you at a discount."

He snorted. "That's very cute," he responded, rolling his eyes. "Makes me wonder what the hell else Lex is up to."

"I'm sure we will find out soon enough," Bruce told him, "how did you hear about it?"

Oliver's jaw tightened in annoyance at that. "He sent some pretty little blond lackey to do his dirty work."

"Hn," Bruce said to that, opening the link to Oliver's office's security cameras and running a facial recognition on the blond.

"You've planted more cameras, haven't you?" he asked suspiciously.

He didn't answer, instead, he remained silence for a moment longer as the computer worked then frowned, "Chloe Sullivan."

He pursed his lips. "Doesn't ring a bell. She new? She seemed young."

"No," Bruce grunted, his voice lower as he read the information, "she's been working with Lex since she was sixteen."

Oliver raised an eyebrow at that. "And how old is she now?" She couldn't have been more than twenty-one, tops.

"Twenty-one," he confirmed, then paused, "you might want to ask Kent about her."

"Why? Did they go to school together?" he asked, curious. That made sense since Lex was in Smallville and so was Clark.

"Yes," Bruce answered.

He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "Guess I'll give him a call, see what he knows."

"I'll keep an eye on Luthor." He said, not that it was necessary for him to say so, but for Oliver's benefit.

"Appreciated," he said, sitting forward in his chair. "I'll be in touch."

And the line went dead.

Oliver sighed softly, not looking forward to the next call in the least. It wasn't that Kent was a bad guy or anything--quite the opposite. The guy was practically a boyscout. He just didn't happen to like the lengths that Oliver and the team were willing to go to to set things right and make the world a better place. Clark was still much younger than most of the team, and still saw things in black and white, or through rose-colored glasses. In short, the guy was incredibly naive. In a way it was sweet--but most of the time it was just annoying. There was nothing quite like being lectured by a guy you were nearly ten years older than.

He rubbed a hand over his face and went through his list of contacts in his phone, dialing the guy's number.

"Clark Kent," he answered a moment later.

"Hey, Clark. It's Oliver," he said, trying to sound friendly and casual despite his annoyance.

"Oliver," Clark said, raising his eyebrows in surprise, "hi."

"How's it going?" he asked, tapping his foot against the floor.

"Well," he answered with a nod, "how are you?"

"All right," Oliver responded. "Listen I just had a visitor that I think you may know. Chloe Sullivan?"

Clark took a deep breath and let it out slowly, his jaw tightening instantly, "I knew her."

He sat up a little as he heard the tension in Clark's voice. "I assume you know she's working for Lex Luthor then."

"Yes." Clark said tightly.

"Lex just made an attempt to steal my company right out from under me and she's the one he sent to inform me." He paused. "Can you give me any insight on her?"

"She's Lois' little cousin," Clark said dryly.

Oliver paused at that. "Well, they do at least have the _snark_ in common," he said just as wryly.

Clark remained quiet for a long moment, "I haven't spoken to her in years."

"What happened?" he asked just as quietly.

"She was my best friend," Clark told him, his voice quiet, tight, "she betrayed me, she chose Lex."

He sighed softly, rubbing his hand over his face. "Scale of one to ten here, man. How much trouble am I looking at?"

"A lot," Clark sighed, "she's worse than him."

Somehow, he seriously doubted that, but he didn't voice the thought. "All right." He exhaled again, sitting back in his chair. "Thanks, Clark. I'll uh--I'll keep you updated. You know, if you want."

"Only if you need help." Clark said tightly.

Oliver winced a little. "Right. Take care," he said quietly, hanging up his phone a moment later.


	3. Chapter 3

Banner: .

  
  


It had been a long week for Chloe. She had spent most of her time organizing the LuthorCorp Christmas parties. Parties, plural. The ones for all the employees in each branch of the company all over the world, although there was only so much she could oversee on those, she mostly just controlled the budget and got a list of things it had been spent on. But this, this one was _all_ her.

This was the Luthor party for the shareholders, where investors would come to meet with Lex, where all the businesses opportunities for the following year could begin, there the board would spend the night making contact, the party Lex would call _his_. It had to be perfect and she had made sure of it.

She had gotten to the LuthorCorp ballroom earlier than anyone else, to make sure all the preparations were to her standard and she knew Lex would come by to check on it before leaving again to make his entrance later into the party. And if she got nervous at all, this would be the time to be nervous but she just didn't anymore. She had no reason to, no matter how much she screwed up, no one would ever find out about it because she could cover tracks, her own and others', better than anyone else. Even Lex himself.

"Well. The place looks great," Lex commented, glancing at her sideways, a small smile playing on his mouth.

"Did you expect anything else?" She asked, arching an eyebrow at him, a smirk on her mouth.

"Never from you." He smirked back at her.

"What time are you planning on making your appearance?" Chloe asked, checking the time on her phone.

"Fashionably late, of course. Probably about an hour in," he told her, still smirking.

"Of course," she smirked back at him, "I'll be sure to round up the press clowns fifteen minutes in and let them wait for you outside."

"Appreciated." He nodded slightly and then headed away from her.

Chloe gave him a nod then walked over to the back to check on the food preparations. The guests were expected to start arriving within five minutes, until then, she didn't have much else to take care of.

Moments later, the guests began to pour into the room, filling it quickly as the music began and the food and drinks were handed out.

Lois Lane looked around, every muscle in her body tense as she clutched onto a champagne flute. Her hair was swept up off her neck carefully, her black dress dipping just a little in the back, and a strand of pearls around her neck. She knew Clark wasn't happy to be there. She wasn't terribly thrilled about it either, but part of her refused to _completely_ give up on the woman who'd once been her best friend in the world.

Chloe knew they would be there, she had been given a list of press members to approve after all, but she was determined to avoid them at all costs and if they made their way to her, she would be ready for them, she was always ready, for everything. She could see her cousin across the room, her hair was a lot lighter than it had been the last time she saw her. Clark hadn't changed much, except for the fact that now he was wearing glasses. As far as she remembered, he had perfect vision, but apparently things changed.

With a nod, she motioned for one of the security guards to walk up to her and once he was close enough she looked up at him, "gather the press, tell them Mr. Luthor will be here soon and have them wait in the foyer."

"Of course, Ms. Sullivan," one of them greeted, nodding and heading away with the others.

"She's here somewhere," Lois murmured, looking around to try and spot her.

"I just heard her," Clark sighed, "she told someone else to gather the press, it's better if we don't see her."

"She's still my cousin, Clark." Her voice was tense.

"She's not Chloe anymore," he said, just as tensely, "she's changed."

"We've _all_ changed. She's still my family and she always will be." She gave him a sharp look. It was one of the few things that they would never agree on.

Clark avoided her eyes and pushed his classes up his nose, "we're supposed to go to the foyer."

"I don't _care_." She drank down her champagne and handed him the empty glass, moving through the crowd and looking around.

"Lois," Clark warned her and started walking after her then stopped and sighed, walking in the opposite direction and placing the glass over a table on his way.

She finally spotted her in a corner, talking to some guy she didn't recognize. Lifting her chin, she made a beeline toward her.

Chloe caught the movement out of the corner of her eyes and held her breath a little, then quickly dismissed the man she'd been speaking to, but didn't turn to look at her cousin, instead, she sipped delicately on her champagne and waited.

"Chloe?" Her voice was quiet, but it didn't waver. "Hi."

She turned slowly to face Lois, a perfectly placed pleasant smile on her lips as she raised an eyebrow and nodded, acknowledging her but not showing any other emotions otherwise, "Lois, I see you made it."

Lois gazed at her intently. "Of course. Like I'd miss it?"

"It's just a Christmas party, hardly front page material," Chloe said simply, taking another sip from her glass.

She shrugged a little at that. "You never know what's going to happen at an event of Lex Luthor's, do you?"

"Minute by minute," a smirk appeared on her lips, "I would give you the schedule sheet, but I wouldn't want to ruin the surprises we prepared for tonight."

Lois studied her cousin for a moment, then reached out and took the glass from her, taking a drink and handing it back. "No. Wouldn't want that."

Chloe arched an eyebrow and looked down at the glass before placing it on a passing tray as it if was infected, "the press should be on their way to the foyer, Lex will be arriving shortly."

Her jaw tightened and she stepped just a little closer. "You can try as hard as you want to pretend that I don't exist, but I've got news for you, Cuz." Her eyes narrowed, and she reached out, catching Chloe's arm in her hand. "The same blood that runs in my veins runs in yours, too, and you can't change that no matter _how_ damn bad you might want to. And if you think I'm ever going to let you think otherwise? You've got another thing coming," she informed her, letting go of her and storming away.

Her jaw clenched just slightly as she watched her cousin walk away, her heart beating faster as her eyes got warm. Chloe looked down for a second when she felt her face falling and with a deep breath, forced her expression back to neutral. She hadn't expected her cousin to manage to get a reaction out of her, but she wasn't going to focus on that now. She had a party to get through and she would be ready for this in future interactions with Lois, she had to prepare better than this.

* * *

It wasn't a party he'd truly _wanted_ to attend, but Oliver Queen knew when he _needed_ to do something, and it always overrode any desire to avoid certain events and parties he didn't feel like going to. Duty over desire, even though most people wouldn't believe that considering his 'playboy' status.

Then again, most people didn't know he lived a double life, either.

If people knew that two of the richest bachelors in the world spent their nights fighting crime, they'd be shocked. And probably wouldn't believe it at all. 

Oliver surveyed the room, his gaze drawn to the petite blond standing apart from the rest of the crowd. He cocked his head to the side, studying her intently. From everything he'd managed to learn about Chloe Sullivan from a variety of sources--nothing indicated that she really _belonged_ here. 

Then again, she was working for Lex Luthor. And that meant that all bets were off. Picking up another glass of champagne, he took a sip and crossed the room until he was at her side. "Quite a shindig you've thrown here," he remarked idly, his arm brushing just lightly against hers.

Chloe turned to look at him and arched an eyebrow, an amused smirk appearing on her lips almost instantly. The night was turning out to be a lot more interesting than she'd expected, "and here I thought Lex had done a better job picking out his security this time."

He couldn't help but smirk back at her. "You're not aware that I was actually invited? Color me shocked. I thought being Lex's right hand...woman meant being included on that kind of information."

She eyed him for a moment and smiled a little, "anything I can help you with, Mr. Queen?" 

A smile tugged at his lips and he took a sip of his champagne, glancing at her sideways. "Well, you could come to work for _me_ ," he responded.

She laughed softly at that and shook her head, "considering our last conversation and the fact that I know your company has been stalled for quite a while now, why would I possibly do that? I like job stability, Mr. Queen."

He smirked, arching an eyebrow. "Perhaps you should check my employees' records and compare them to LuthorCorp's. I haven't dismissed anyone in nearly five years, and the last one I did was attempting to embezzle money from me."

"Perhaps that's your problem," she told him, picking up a glass when one of the waitresses came up to them, "Lex only keeps people of value."

"Well, unlike your employer, I think everyone has value, Miss Sullivan. But it's good to know that Lex takes after his father's business practices," he responded, watching her intently.

"Lionel failed to see the bigger picture," she told him, watching the crowd rather than the man she was speaking to, "Lex isn't making the same mistake," she told him, a hint of satisfaction in her voice. Lionel was in hell, where he belonged. 

"No, he's making plenty of his own without having to follow in Lionel's footsteps," Oliver commented, not looking at her, either. He took a sip of his drink.

"Innovative thinking is hardly a mistake, Mr. Queen." Chloe said again, turning to look at him this time. 

"There's a difference between innovative and dirty, Ms. Sullivan." He turned to face her once more, as well, raising an eyebrow. "Although clearly those lines became blurred for you some time ago, as well."

Chloe smirked at that and cocked her head, "again with the assumptions, Mr. Queen, don't you ever get tired of making a fool of yourself?"

"Not according to the tabloids," he quipped, amusement dancing in his eyes.

"Lucky for you, my research goes a little further than the front page of the Inquisitor," she told him then smiled brightly as she held his gaze, "you're hiding something."

"Gosh, nothing gets by you, does it?" His voice was light, amused. "We're _all_ hiding something, Ms. Sullivan." He shifted just a little closer to her. "Even you." His voice dropped.

Chloe held his gaze and sipped on her champagne, watching him closely for a moment longer, "why are you here?"

Oliver held her gaze, as well. "What, the invitation was just for show?" He arched an eyebrow.

She arched an eyebrow back at him, keeping her eyes for a moment longer, "enjoy the party," she told him before brushing against him as she started to walk away.

"Dance with me," he said, catching her arm in a gentle grasp.

Chloe paused at that, turning her head up to look at him, raising her eyebrows slowly before placing a pleasant smile on her lips, "of course, Mr. Queen."

He was surprised at how easily she agreed. He figured she'd put up a fight. Maybe he'd have to be even more careful with her than he'd expected. "Excellent." He set his glass down on a table, sliding his arm around her waist and leading her onto the floor, turning to face her once more.

She disposed of her glass as they passed another table then turned to face him as well, her smile firmly in place as she moved her hands up to his arms.

Oliver kept his eyes on hers, pulling her a little closer.

Chloe watched him back, smiling a little more at him but remaining silent. She knew what he was trying to do, he figured she was the easiest way in to get to Lex, but she had an entirely different plan in mind for him.

He offered her a smile of his own as they swayed together with the jazz music from the band that was playing on the other side of the room. "Are you fond of jazz?" he asked.

"Quality jazz," she said, nodding, "are you?"

He nodded, as well. "As long as the music is good, the genre doesn't matter to me."

"Something we can agree on," she said politely. She could feel eyes on her, behind her back, but she didn't want to look over her shoulder and be obvious about it, so she started turning them slowly, in pace with the music.

Oliver's gaze shifted ever-so-slightly to just over her shoulder for a brief second, where he caught sight of Lois watching them. Then he shifted them back to Chloe, letting her turn them so she could, see, as well, watching her intently.

Chloe smiled at Oliver once more then looked around the room for a moment before turning her head to look in the direction of whoever it was, expecting to see Lex standing there but finding her cousin instead, watching her like a hawk. Chloe looked away quickly, her jaw clenching just for a second as she made a mental note never to accept her cousin as press for another event again.

He watched as her face fell for the briefest of moments before the expression was replaced with the same cool smile she'd been wearing seconds before. His chest tightened just a little. 

Apparently Chloe Sullivan wasn't quite as happy with her life as a Luthor-lackey as she pretended to be. 

And that meant there was still hope for her.


	4. Chapter 4

Banner: .

  


A few days after the Luthor party found Oliver still in heavy research mode. And while he knew that Victor could find out the kinds of things he was looking for, part of him felt the need to do this particular research himself. Holed up in his home office in Star City, he poured over stacks of newspaper clippings, over online articles on his laptop.

Re-reading the articles over Lionel Luthor's 'unfortunate accident' did little to quell his own burning hatred for the man, but he took a drink of his water, ignoring the urge to reach for something stronger, and moved onto the next article instead.

Sighing as he accidentally nudged a stack of papers off his desk, he leaned over to pick them up, his hand stilling as he caught sight of a black and white photograph of a young blond. Staring in surprise, he lifted it into his hands and began to read over the article, a little stunned by what he realized he'd been overlooking for the past several days.

It was Chloe Sullivan who'd put Lionel Luthor behind bars to begin with.

His chest tightened a little as he read over how she and her father had been escorted to a safehouse, only to have it blown to pieces, killing her father even though she'd been able to escape.

Well, that certainly painted things in a different light.

Rubbing a hand over his face, he set the article down and reached for his phone, dialing his pilot. "It's me. I need to schedule a flight for tomorrow morning, as early as possible."

"Of course, Mr. Queen. What's the destination?" the other man asked.

"Smallville, Kansas," he responded quietly, staring at Chloe's picture.

* * *

Lois Lane was more than just a little restless as she waited for Oliver Queen to show up at the Talon. Sure, she'd met the man before, but when he called, it was usually for Clark, about the 'superhero business,' but this time, he had specifically asked to meet up with her, alone. She was curious, even if she had an idea what this whole thing was about.

Oliver arrived just a few minutes late due to a landing-related delay. It hadn't been his intention to keep Lois waiting. Not when he needed information he had a feeling he was only going to be able to get from her. He knew Clark well enough to know the other man wasn't interested in _anything_ regarding his former best friend. But her cousin was surely a different story. They were family, after all. He dropped into the seat across from her. "Sorry I'm late," he said sincerely. "What can I get you?" he asked, glancing at her half-drank coffee drink.

"Just a refill will be fine," she told him, sitting up and watching him curiously.

He motioned to the waitress, offering the young woman a smile while ordering Lois' refill and a glass of hot tea for himself. "Thank you for meeting with me," he told her.

"Yeah, no problem," Lois said, still watching him closely, "what's going on?"

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, gazing at her. "I need you to tell me about your cousin Chloe," he said quietly.

Lois stilled for a second then sighed, "yeah, I figured," she told him, looking down at her coffee for a moment, "what do you wanna know?"

"What happened," he said softly. "I know that Lionel Luthor murdered her father." He tensed a little just saying the man's name.

She just nodded her confirmation, "she wasn't the same after that."

He glanced down at the table for a moment, then back up at her. "Did something happen? Between the two of you? Or were you guys just not that close?" he asked.

"We were like sisters," she told him, looking away, her jaw clenching. "I tried talking to her, but she was staying at the mansion, she wouldn't come to see me and they wouldn't let me in, she changed all her numbers and everything."

Oliver was quiet for a few seconds, watching her intently and seeing how affected she was by that. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, his voice sincere.

"The thing is, this isn't like her," Lois said, "or it wasn't like her four years ago, Chloe would never have done this without Lex doing _something_ to her."

"Are we completely sure he hasn't?" His voice lowered and he leaned in a little.

"No, but I can't prove anything either." She told him, her voice lower, filled with anger, "Clark doesn't believe me, he says it was her choice, but I know he's wrong."

He searched her eyes, nodding a little at that. "What if I believed you?" His tone indicated he already did.

"Why would you?" She asked, holding his gaze.

"Gut feeling," he told her honestly. "And because the other night at Lex's party, when I was dancing with her and she saw you, there was something there for just a second. Regret, maybe, I'm not sure. But it was there."

Lois stared at him for a moment then smiled slightly, nodding, "I thought I saw it too." Her expression grew serious once more just a moment later, however, "what do you want with Chlo?"

"To get her away from Lex, for one," he answered.

"What else?" Lois asked, frowning a little.

Oliver was silent for a moment, studying her. "I think she could be key in bringing Lex Luthor down once and for all."

Lois watched him for a moment then nodded, sitting up, "how can I help?"

"I need to know everything you can tell me about your cousin," he said quietly. "In detail."

She nodded a little, considering for a moment, "our mothers were sisters," she told him, "my mom passed away when I was six, and not long after that, aunt Moira took off and left Chloe with uncle Gabe. He was an awesome dad."

His face fell a little at the information about their mothers. "So when he died, Chloe was basically an orphan," he murmured.

Lois nodded, "her dad was an only child, so she doesn't really have any family other than me, my sister and the general," Lois paused, "my dad." She explained.

"Is that what brought you to Kansas?" he asked curiously.

"Well, we were both born and raised in Metropolis, until uncle Gabe got the job here in Smallville, Chloe was about eleven, I think. Then they moved here and I only got to see her during school breaks. I traveled with the general every now and then, but technically I always lived in Kansas." She told him.

He nodded slightly. "What was she like before her dad died?" He took a sip of his tea, watching her carefully.

"Just amazing," Lois said, shrugging a little, "Chloe was always the nice one between the two of us. She's incredibly smart too. Her dream was to work for the Planet since she went there on a school trip when she was, I don't know maybe in second grade? She hated Smallville but she didn't really complain about it. She didn't complain about much, really, she's a really strong person so she just dealt with it, I guess."

Oliver took that in, considering. "She wrote a lot of articles for her high school newspaper," he commented. "Seems like she was onto the meteor infected stuff before even Lex was."

"Yeah and that's Clark's problem with the whole thing," Lois tensed again, disapproval clear on her features, "he thinks Chloe told Lex all about him but the thing is, Chloe never knew the truth." She added in a whisper.

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed a little at that. "And if she had known, Lex would be all over Clark right now," he pointed out, frowning. Sometimes Clark Kent made no sense to him at all.

"Yeah, exactly," Lois sighed, "but Chloe had a theory that all the weird events started in Smallville after the first meteor shower, because of the meteor rocks, which we now know it's true, but she saw that before anyone else and she was able to put a lot of the pieces together even without knowing the truth and according to Clark, she was the one who even told Lex about this to begin with, which was how he got interested in her in the first place."

He pursed his lips, leaning back in his seat for a moment and taking a drink of his tea, thinking. "Sounds like she was just quicker on the uptake than most people around here," he said, shrugging.

"She usually is," Lois said, "but Clark is still overreacting about her. He's just hurt both Chloe and Lex, who used to be two of his best friends, completely dropped him."

"People know when you're holding back and keeping secrets from them. It causes a lot of hurt feelings and misunderstandings," he said quietly. "But I can't blame him for being so careful, either."

"I can't either, but maybe if he hadn't given up on her so easily, things would be different now," she said, looking away.

Oliver reached out and laid a hand on her arm. "I'm going to do everything I can to get her away from Lex," he said very quietly, meaning it.

Lois looked back at him and nodded, "I'll help however I can, but if you already found her Torch articles, that should help you get a sense of who she is, or was anyway."

"I've been reading them the last few nights," he admitted, nodding, as well. "But I'll probably have questions, too."

"Anything you can think of, just ask," she said sincerely, "even if we can't pull her out, I want to at least understand _why_ she would do this to herself."

"All right," he said softly, watching her for a moment and offering her a small, sincere smile. "Let Operation Chloe Sullivan begin."

Lois smiled at him and picked up her mug, nodding before clicking it against his tea one, "I'll drink to that."

Oliver nodded, as well, and took a drink. He had a feeling this was going to be his most challenging mission yet.

* * *

It was a few days after the party when Chloe drove to Smallville to see Lex. She made her way up to the study without looking twice around at the staff and pushed the doors open unceremoniously. She had let Lex know she'd be coming by after all so she wasn't surprised to see him sitting behind his desk, his computer open in front of him.

"Working?" She asked, dropping her purse in one of the loveseats before undoing the buttons on her coat and shrugging it off.

"Almost always," he answered, glancing up at her with a fond smile.

"I don't know why I bother asking," she told him, smiling back at him then making her way over to the bar in the corner of his office, "there is something I've been thinking about," she began, picking up two glasses.

He watched her curiously, leaning back in his chair. "You have my full attention," he told her.

She poured two drinks for them and picked up the glasses before walking over to his desk and holding one of them out to him, "I want Oliver Queen to be my next pet project."

Lex arched an eyebrow at that, but reached out and took the drink from her anyway. "Meaning?"

"At the party," she explained, sitting down on the chair across from him, "I think he thought I would be an easy target."

He leaned forward, a small smirk tugging at his mouth. "Well, he's in for a nasty surprise, then, isn't he?"

Chloe smiled at him and sipped on her drink before setting her glass over Lex's desk, "if there is one thing I can't stand is to be underestimated."

"I'm well-aware." He smiled back. "So what are you thinking?"

She sat back against her chair and pursed her lips together, "well, I seem to have his attention already," she told Lex, "I think I will let him come to me, pretend I'm falling for his moves, let him think he has control over everything."

Lex couldn't help but smirk for that. "Playing into his over-blown ego." He nodded slightly.

"Exactly," she told him. She had used the same trick on Lex before and it had worked out to her advantage. Besides, something about Oliver Queen intrigued her and she wanted to find out what it was.

"All right. What do you need from me, if anything?" he questioned, watching her.

"Any insights on him, if you have them," she told him, watching him back as she picked up her glass once more.

Nodding a little, Lex picked up his glass and took a sip. "He's an arrogant, self-centered bastard," he said evenly. "He thinks that the entire world revolves around him. That we should all bow down and kiss his feet beause he was orphaned at such a young age." He pursed his lips. "Anyone who doesn't, is beneath him in his eyes."

Chloe smiled at that and nodded. She could hear the anger in Lex's voice even though a normal person would have found his words to be absolutely neutral. But she knew better. Oliver Queen was personal for him. "I'll keep that in mind," she told him, "anything else?"

"Oliver likes for people to paint him as this charitable, giving guy, but deep down he's the opposite. It's all for show. Inside he knows he's nothing." He smirked a little, leaning back in his chair and taking another drink.

"So his big ego is actually fragile?" Chloe asked, arched an eyebrow.

He smirked. "It's the key to his undoing."

She smirked back at him and nodded, holding Lex's gaze for a moment then sipping on her scotch thoughtfully, quiet for a moment longer, "what do you think he's hiding?"

Lex considered that for a moment. "Probably more than most people would suspect. But I have no doubt that whatever it is, you can get it out of him, Chloe." He smiled. "One way or another."

Chloe smiled back at him and nodded, "I'll do my best."

"Ruin him," he said quietly. "By whatever means necessary."

She watched Lex for a moment and nodded but didn't say anything else as she leaned back against her chair and sipped on her drink. She planned on finding out more than just what Oliver was hiding, she also wanted to know why, _exactly_ , Lex Luthor seemed to hate him so much.


	5. Chapter 5

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Oliver headed into the lobby of the Plaza New York, carrying his suitcase and nodding politely to the security and staff members. It had been a long week, both for him as a business man and as Green Arrow. And now he had a long weekend ahead which included several business meetings that he wasn't looking forward to. Mostly, he was tired.

And he certainly didn't expect to spot Chloe Sullivan in the hotel where he was as he was heading for the elevators.

Chloe had picked a spot in the lobby, by the bar area, to go over some files and have a drink. A very visible spot. She wanted him to see her instead of the other way around. Her excuse to be in New York had been perfect as LuthorCorp had just made donations to a couple of local hospitals, nothing that needed overseeing, but it was the excuse she needed to be where _he_ would be without making it suspicious.

He paused in his tracks, realizing this weekend just might pay off more than he'd originally thought. A small smile tugging at his mouth, he headed over to her. "Well, I wasn't expecting to see _you_ here," he commented.

 _Perfect_. She thought to herself, pausing mid-sip and lowering her glass as she raised her head to look up, a smile appearing on her lips as she raised her eyebrows slowly, "Mr. Queen, I can say I'm equally surprised."

"What brings you to the Big Apple?" he asked curiously, studying her.

"Work," she told him, setting her glass down and motioning at the documents in front of her, "you?"

He smiled faintly, nodding. "Likewise," he told her.

Chloe closed the folder in front of her and nodded, "I suppose there are worse places to be at this time of the year."

Oliver nodded his agreement. "Planning to see the ball drop at Midnight, then?" he asked.

She smirked a little and shook her head, "not planning on leaving the hotel room tonight, it's going to be chaos out there."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Well, no doubt, but I figured you were probably used to chaos with all the LuthorCorp events you'd organized and attended."

Chloe raised her eyebrows and smirked some more, "completely different types of chaos, Mr. Queen," she told him, picking up her glass once more and sipping on it.

He smirked, as well. "Touche," he responded, winking at her. "Well, I hope you enjoy your stay in the city, Ms. Sullivan." He turned to head away from the table.

"What are _your_ plans for the evening?" She asked, her voice smoother than before.

Oliver paused at that, glancing back at her once more. "To go over some reports and go to bed early," he told her.

"Exciting," she smirked, "the tabloids would be highly disappointed."

"Well, good thing I don't live to impress hack writers," he responded with a smirk of his own.

"That seems to be the difference between you and Mr. Wayne." Chloe told him, sitting back against her chair.

He chuckled involuntarily. "That may be where the differences begin, but trust me when I say there are many, many more."

"I'll have to take your word for it," she told him, "I haven't had the opportunity to meet him as of yet."

"Well, perhaps you'll get the chance one day." He nodded at her and started to head away again, wondering if she would try and stop him a second time.

"Goodnight, Mr. Queen," she called, turning to her drink once more. She would have to create more opportunities to run into him, and she had one in mind already.

"Goodnight, Ms. Sullivan," he called back, a smirk on his face as he headed toward the elevator. The weekend had just gotten much, much more interesting.

* * *

It didn't take her that much longer to find an opportunity to accidentally bump into Oliver. She knew he was staying in the presidential suite across the hall from hers, she had hacked his network and checked the information for his reservations before booking her own room after all. And then she had dropped a microphone right next to the door of his room so she could know when he left it.

And he just had.

She picked up her ice bucket and adjusted her black satin robe so it was showing just the right amount of lace from her nightgown as well as cleavage, then, with a deep breath, open the door to her room and stepped out.

Oliver headed back to his room, carrying the now full ice bucket and freezing in place when he caught sight of a pair of bare legs a few feet ahead, his gaze trailing slowly upward to the smooth, creamy cleavage and then to the blonde that the legs and breasts belonged to. He swallowed hard as he realized it was none other than Chloe Sullivan. _Hell_. All rational thought left his brain.

The look on his face alone made her heart skip a beat. She had been hoping for a reaction similar to that, but she still, she hadn't been expecting to _get_ one. Especially not from Oliver Queen who had women tripping all over themselves for him. She took a deep breath though and smiled at him, forcing herself not to pull her robe closed over her chest. It was a lot easier to feel confident when she had more clothes on. "Mr. Queen," she said, not having to fake her surprise this time.

"Ms. Sullivan." He cleared his throat, forcing himself to keep his eyes on her _face_. He needed to keep his wits about him, especially around her. No matter _how_ attractive she was.

Chloe smiled a little and nodded, once his eyes were away from her breasts, she reached up and pulled the robe closed a little more, "mind sharing the secret of where the ice machine is?" She asked quietly, cocking her head to the side.

"Of course," he said just as quietly, turning to look down the hall. "Just down the corridor to the left, by the soda machine."

"Oh," she followed his gaze to the correct direction and nodded, "thank you." She told him with a soft smile.

"You're welcome," he said softly, offering her a small smile in return, heading toward his room.

She watched him for a moment then took a deep breath and turned, heading down the hallway in the opposite direction. This wasn't exactly her comfort zone.

He was silent for a moment, then turned around as he reached his door. "You're really not doing anything on New Year's Eve?"

Chloe paused and arched an eyebrow, turning around to look at him, "besides avoiding it?" She asked, smirking a little before shaking her head.

Oliver met her gaze. "Don't suppose you'd want to watch the ball drop on TV with me?"

She raised her eyebrows at that, looking away then back at him, not putting on a show for the time being. "I did just open a bottle of whiskey. I wouldn't mind sharing."

A small smile touched his mouth. "All right. My room or yours?"

"Our rooms are identical so I don't think it matters," she told him, arching an eyebrow.

"Let's use mine then," he suggested.

Chloe nodded, holding his gaze and smiling slowly, "I suppose I don't need ice in that case," she told him, her eyes bright.

Oliver simply smiled.

"I'll grab the bottle," she told him, smiling back at him before walking back to her room and making her way inside, letting the door fall shut behind herself.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, heading back into his own room and leaving the door open.

Chloe took a deep breath when she was inside. She had to pull herself together. She had already finished half a bottle on her own so she wasn't as sharp as she would have liked to be, but maybe this was better, after all, she was supposed to let him believe he was in control and giving up control never came easy for her. This was his game now, she had him exactly where she wanted and even though she wasn't about to let her guard down, she had to allow him to try and seduce her and she had never exactly been seduced before.

She opened the second bottle quickly, leaving the unfinished one in her room. This was just the first phase of her plan, if the night ended with them in, at least, a first name basis, moving on to the next step would be easier and that was what she had to focus on.

A second later, she took another deep breath and stepped out of her room, keycard and bottle in hand as she closed the door behind herself, not surprised to find the door to his own room open, waiting for her.

By the time she stepped inside, she had her practiced smile on her lips, "I hope this is to your taste."

Oliver raised his eyebrows, glancing down at the bottle she held in her hands. "Good year," he commented, reaching out to take it from her and then moving over to get a couple of glasses from the mini wet-bar.

"I know," she told him, smirking softly and reaching to close the door to his room after he took the bottle from her. Chloe then turned and looked around the room for a moment. Everything was perfectly in order, his clothes were folded on top of his suitcase, apparently he wasn't a messy guy, which was the opposite of what she would expect from someone who could have had people to pick up after him his entire life.

He poured each of them a drink, glancing over at her and watching her glance around the room, wondering what was going on in her head. "Here you are," he told her, holding one of the glasses out to her even as he took a sip from his own glass.

Chloe watched him closely as she took the glass from him and cocked her head to the side, "are you sure you're okay with this? Fraternizing with the enemy?"

"Is that what we are?" He arched an eyebrow at her.

"What else would we be?" She asked, sipping on her own glass but not taking her eyes off of him.

He shrugged a little. "We barely know each other," he pointed out.

"True, but considering the circumstances in which we met..." she said, arching an eyebrow.

A smirk tugged at his mouth. "You mean when you barged into my office and informed me you and your employer were going to take over my company?"

She didn't flinch, just smirked back at him and sipped on her drink.

"Well, that was just business, right?" There was a knowing look in his eyes. "We don't know each other _personally_."

Chloe considered that for a moment, she hadn't really dealt with anyone in a personal level in the past four years, and this wasn't personal either, it was business, but she had to let him think otherwise, it was the whole point after all, "I suppose you have a point."

"It happens occasionally," he teased, winking at her and taking a drink.

"Just occasionally?" She asked, taking a step further into the room.

He shrugged a little, moving over to the television and flipping it on to the local channel that was showing the crowd gathered in Times Square. "Depends on what we're talking about usually."

"Are you always this vague?" She asked, smirking softly, "or just with people who tried to buy you out of your own company?"

"Well, just because I don't hate you or consider you a personal enemy because of it doesn't mean I trust you either," he said pointedly, raising his eyebrows and turning to pin her with a gaze. "For all I know you're here to spy on me for Lex and make another attempt _on_ said company."

Chloe smirked at that and nodded, "good, I would have to question your intelligence otherwise."

He moved closer to her, taking a drink even though his eyes never left hers. "I'm not going to talk about business with you at all," he informed her.

She kept her eyes on him and raised her eyebrows, a smile slowly appearing on her lips as he got closer, "what could we possibly talk about, then?"  
"I guess that's up to you," he murmured, searching her eyes.

"You're the one who invited me," she told him, holding his gaze.

"So I have to do all the work?" he teased.

"I'll gladly pull my own weight," she told him, stepping forward, "but I imagine you had something on mind when you made the invitation."

Oliver motioned toward the television. "The ball dropping." Amusement danced in his eyes.

"Ah," Chloe nodded, glancing at the TV, "you seem to have a slight obsession with that, Mr. Queen."

"Well, it is a New Year's tradition." He paused. "Call me Oliver."

She smiled at that and nodded, "Chloe," she told him, her eyes still on his.

He nodded, as well. "All right, Chloe."

"Well, _Oliver_ ," she said quietly, smiling up at him, "do you usually watch tv while standing?"

He smirked at that. "Not generally, no." He nodded toward the sofa. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable." He moved over and sat down on one end of it.

Chloe considered the armchair for a moment then forced herself to take the opposite end of the couch, "thank you," she told him as she sat down and crossed her legs, holding the glass over her lap in both hands.

Oliver glanced over at her. "You're welcome," he said quietly, gazing at her for a long moment.

She shifted on the couch, turning toward him slightly, "I'm surprised you didn't have more interesting plans for tonight."

"Like I said before, don't believe everything you hear about me," he told her, his gaze intent. "People tend to be very biased and selective in what they say."

"Regardless," she told him quietly, "you're Oliver Queen, there has to be someone in the city who could benefit from your presence at their party."

"Sure. I could show up and make someone really popular for a few minutes. But popularity's highly over-rated," he said honestly.

"I'm aware, I've been through high school," she smirked, "but wouldn't that be more interesting than this?"

"I'm not talking about high school." Oliver shook his head, shifting a little so he was turned toward her. "I'm talking about being hounded day and night for interviews, for quotes, for pictures. People pretending to be your friend because you have something they want. Politicians pretending they care about the issues you do because you might toss some money at their campaign. _Everybody_ wants something. Everyone has an endgame. That doesn't mean I want to play into it all the time, around the clock."

Chloe cocked her head a little at that, apparently Oliver had a few issues with people using him for his money and image. She nodded slightly, she had to be sympathetic, not let her hand show but most of all, she had to push away the hint of guilt she felt for being there, doing exactly what he was describing. She also had an endgame, after all, and it wasn't one Oliver would be benefiting from, "that must be hard," she agreed quietly, "especially for someone like you, it's been this way your whole life, I imagine."

He was quiet for a moment. "Since my parents died, yes," he said softly, looking away from her.

"I'm sorry," she told him, looking down and taking a deep breath when she realized the sentiment was completely sincere. She knew what it felt like to lose your parents, she couldn't imagine what it would have been like to lose both of them at such a young age.

"Thank you," he said quietly, his chest tightening. "They were good people. I don't remember a lot about them, but from everything I've put together from friends of theirs and from news clippings and interviews...they always tried to do the right thing."

Her jaw clenched a little and she took a long sip of her drink. If she hadn't been half drunk already, she would have a lot more control over her emotions, but as it was, it looked like this was going to be hard, "how old were you?"

"Five," he told her quietly, taking a long drink. He was actually surprised she didn't already know that, considering who she worked for.

She had known the answer, but he sounded like he wanted to talk about it. "I'm sorry," she said again. The same age her mom had walked out on them.  
He glanced over at her, shaking his head a little. "You didn't crash the plane," he said simply.

Chloe lifted her head at that and looked up at him, "no," she told him, her jaw tight as she looked down at her glass again, "and the man who did won't be hurting anyone else," she murmured before taking another drink.

"Guess we have something in common after all," he said very quietly.

She raised her eyebrow at that and turned to look at him, not bothering to mask her surprise.

"Lionel Luthor ruined _both_ our lives." He met her eyes for a moment, then downed the rest of the scotch in his glass.

Her jaw clenched at that and she stood up, eyes narrowing slightly, "have you been researching me?"

Oliver didn't look away. "Only as much as you have me," he said openly.

"Your life is public knowledge," she told him, jaw still tight, "you would have to go out of your way to find out anything about me."

"You honestly expected to show up in my city and attempt a hostile takeover of my company and believed I wouldn't look into your background?" He arched an eyebrow. "How long have you been working for Lex, again?"

"Didn't your _research_ tell you that?"

He couldn't help but smirk at that. "I simply meant that for someone who's been Lex's assistant for as long as you have, you don't seem to know how the business world is run."

Her eyes darkened at the accusation and she took a step forward, "I'm not his _assistant_ ," she said tightly, leaning down and forward so she could be on eye level with him, not even realizing that that gave him a perfect view of her breasts, she was too angry to be conscious of her body at the moment, "and clearly, your research didn't show you enough or you would know the answer to your question."

"So either you're simply his _assistant_ and not important enough to be researched, thus causing your outrage, or you're someone to be worried about, thus justifying my research and _you're_ simply being irrational." His smirk widened a little more as he held her gaze, his own challenging. "Which is it, Chloe? Because you can't have it both ways."

She held his gaze back, her jaw clenched, "neither," she said tightly, "if you think you understand things so damn well, Oliver, why don't you figure it out on your own what I am?" She took a step forward, a smirk appearing on her lips, "or are you asking and making wrong assumptions simply because you aren't competent enough to find your answers?"

He chuckled, low in his throat. "I think you're big trouble," he responded, his eyes darker than usual.

Chloe smirked more and arched an eyebrow, "is that why you invited me here, Oliver? To spy on me?"

"Fascinating as I'm sure that would be, I simply thought it would be nice to spend New Year's with someone else who'd also be alone otherwise," he answered.

She stood up straight and looked down at him, her expression unchanged, "if you think I'm big trouble, wouldn't that make you incredibly _stupid_?"

"More like I enjoy a challenge," he said with a shrug, rising to his feet. "But you're not a prisoner, Chloe. I didn't trick you to get you in here and I'm not holding you hostage. If you don't want to be here, the door works both ways."

"What kind of a challenge do you think I present?" She asked, looking up at him now, eyes narrowing for a moment before she smirked once more, "if you think you can change my mind about me working for you, Oliver, you can give up right now."

"Right now the challenge is continuing to listen to your asinine questions," he responded, arching an eyebrow.

Chloe stared at him, she wanted nothing more than to slap him and walk out, but if she was going to bring him down, and she wanted to bring him down badly now, she was going to have to stop herself from doing that, "want a real challenge?" She asked, taking a step forward, her eyes even darker now.

"You think you can actually present one?" he asked evenly, watching her.

Without hesitating, she pushed him back down on the couch and arched an eyebrow.

He raised an eyebrow back at her. "So, what's the challenge?" he asked with a smirk.

"To see if you're any better than Lex," she said, looking down at him and smirking right back.

Oliver's eyes narrowed, his jaw tightening. "It certainly wouldn't take much."

"Are you accepting the challenge, then?" She asked, taking a step forward, their legs touching.

"If you think that sleeping with me will get you any closer to stealing my company, you're going to be sorrily mistaken," he told her intently.

"Do I look like I'm interested in your stupid company?" Chloe told him, placing her hands on her hips and smirking, "I have plenty of money and stocks to last me for the rest of my life, Queen and I have absolutely no interest in running a company, that was Lex's deal."

He rose to his feet once more, reaching out and pulling her to him, his gaze intense, dark. "I guess we'll see," he muttered, his mouth slanting over hers the next second.

Chloe gasped when he kissed her but a second later, she returned the kiss, all the anger she was feeling toward him before only fueling her up as she kissed him harshly, standing on her tiptoes and pressing her body flush against his.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew this was a bad idea. For so many reasons. But right then he couldn't remember any of them. He hauled her off her feet, one of his arms sliding around her waist as he deepened the kiss.

She wrapped her legs around his waist instinctively, her arms going around his neck as she slid her fingers into his hair, tugging on it hard as she pulled his head back for better access to his mouth.

Oliver turned and laid her down on the bed, covering her body with his instantly, one hand tugging at the loosely tied belt around her robe. "You sure about this? Literally sleeping with the enemy?" he murmured, kissing her neck.

"Why?" She asked, sliding her hand between them and cupping him through his jeans, as she turned her head up slightly, "aren't you?"

"Are you my enemy, Chloe?" he murmured, licking delicately at her collarbone.

Chloe shivered at that, her jaw clenching, "I am what you make me out to be."

"I'm not sure it works that way." He shifted slightly, pulling her robe open and gazing down at her intently.

"You're the expert, it seems," she told him, holding his gaze as she dropped her hands to the bed. "Why don't you show me how it works?"

"Not what I mean," he murmured, shaking his head. "You are who you are, not who other people perceive you to be."

"What I am doesn't matter," she said, her eyes intense as she lifted her hands to undo the buttons on his shirt slowly, not taking her eyes off of him, "what matters is that I don't want anything to do with your company, everything else isn't any of your concern."

She had no idea how wrong she was. He leaned down and captured her lips in another intense kiss.

Chloe kissed him back, not concerned about her skills or lack of them anymore, this wasn't about seduction, it was business, just like it had been with Lex. It was all a game.

Oliver pulled away from her and rested a hand on her stomach lightly, meeting her eyes. "No strings," he told her quietly.

"The last thing I want are strings," she told him, staring at him then pushing his shirt off of his shoulders.

He nodded slightly, shrugging out of the shirt and tossing it somewhere over his shoulder, lowering his gaze to look at the black, lacy nightgown she was wearing.

Chloe kept her eyes on his face as he looked down at her body. Her eyes both wider than usual and dark.

"You are a beautiful woman," he murmured, pulling her nightgown up a little and leaning down, pressing a kiss to her bare stomach.

She shivered and closed her eyes, she had heard the words before, but they had been slightly more condescending.

"Soft skin," he murmured, nuzzling his nose against her belly and then placing another kiss there.

Another shiver and she took a deep breath, looking down at him, wondering how attentive he would be. She knew it was an ego thing, to make women scream, so she guessed he would be plenty.

Oliver smiled faintly at her shiver, wondering how long it had been for her. He rested one hand lightly on her thigh, stroking her skin there lightly, just barely touching her.

Chloe took a deep breath and arched an eyebrow at him, he was testing her, so she tried her best to suppress another shiver, "are you going to do all the work after all?"

"No, but I'll happily meet you halfway," he told her with a small smile.

"I assume you have a condom?" She asked bluntly, "I'm not interested in carrying the Queen heir."

He blinked at that, pausing with his hand still resting on her thigh. "Chloe, I would never assume you were."

She smirked slowly at the look on her face and shrugged slightly, "I thought we would make that clear," she told him, licking her lips, "I would hate it for you to think I'm trying to trick you like all the others."

"Yes, because you've expressed _obvious_ interest in being tied to me for life," he said wryly.

"You're the one who felt the need to make it clear that there were no strings, Mr. Queen," she told him, lifting a hand to his chest then sliding her hand slowly down his stomach, her fingertips touching his skin lightly.

Oliver's jaw tightened ever-so-slightly and he gazed down at her. "It's Oliver," he murmured, leaning down and pressing a kiss to her ribcage.

Chloe lowered her hand further and started to undo his jeans, shivering again, but this time, she didn't suppress it, "is that what you like to hear? Oliver?"

He paused once more. "It's just my name," he said softly.

She didn't respond to that, just shifted slightly on the bed, down a little so she could push his jeans down over his hips.

"Wait," he murmured, stilling her hands with his own.

She paused and raised her eyes to his face, biting down on her bottom lip.

"I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with," he said quietly. "I'm not that kind of guy."

Chloe held her breath at that, her face falling for just one second before she pulled herself together, "I'm not easily intimidated, if I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be."

"I don't want you to be intimidated," he said honestly, catching the flicker of uncertainty in her eyes.

"You don't intimidate me," she said firmly, her jaw tightening just slightly.

Oliver reached down and gently caressed her jaw when he saw it tighten. "Relax," he whispered.

She kept her eyes on him but turned her head, brushing her lips against his hand then running her tongue slowly over his thumb.

He inhaled sharply at her actions, his eyes darkening. "You play dirty," he murmured, ducking his head and kissing her earlobe.

Chloe grinned softly at that, relaxing this time, at least she was having an effect on him. Shivering slightly again, she reached down and pushed his pants further down.

Oliver smiled as he felt her relax and he shifted, kicking his jeans off.

Just because this was business, it didn't mean she couldn't enjoy herself. She looked down at his arms, chest and stomach and her eyes darkened even more, his body was perfect. She lifted her hands and touched his skin once more, her nails brushing over his nipples teasingly. It had been a long time and all her life, she'd ever only been with two other men before; with one of them it had been innocent curiosity, the second had been a power struggle and she was curious to see how this one would play out.

He groaned softly, dropping his mouth to her chest and suckling lightly at a breast through the material of her nightgown.

Chloe moaned at the warmth of his mouth even through the thin material of her nightgown, she ran her nails against his sides, then over his back.

He shuddered a little at the feel of her nails cutting into his skin, at the faint pleasure-pain sensation, and shifted, suckling on her other breast, as well, even as he eased his hand between her thighs, rubbing her lightly through the silk panties.

She sucked in a breath as her back arched just slightly, pressing her feet against the mattress as her knees bent up on either side of him. He was gentler than Lex, he was taking things slow, making her ready for him. With Lex, even though it had been a long time, it had always be harsh, fast, means to an end. A way to make a point.

Oliver lifted his head to gaze at her, his eyes so dark they were nearly black. "Sit up," he whispered.

Chloe blinked her eyes open and raised her eyebrows, taking a deep breath as she looked up at him for a moment. Confusion flickered across her face for a second but she shifted on the bed, pulling her arms from around him and propping herself up on them.

He smiled faintly, wrapping an arm around her waist and tugging her closer to him, then slowly lifting the nightgown up and over her head, discarding it to the floor. He swallowed hard as his gaze swept over her again. "Gorgeous," he whispered, kissing the corner of her mouth softly, a hand sliding into her hair.

She held her breath, her own eyes as dark as they could get. She turned her head and pressed her lips to his, following her instincts and wrapping her lips against his bottom one, sucking it slowly into her mouth.

Oliver shifted slightly, letting her nibble on his lower lip as his free hand slowly slid down to cup one of her breasts, his thumb gently teasing her nipple to a peak.

Chloe made a quiet noise against his mouth, she could feel the tension building in her stomach, between her legs. She never really had a chance to feel that way before, not when she was with someone else. She let go of his mouth for a second before kissing him again, deeply this time.

He returned the kiss without hesitation, feeling the spark that had ignited between them beginning to burn even brighter. Slowly, he lowered her back down until she was lying on the bed beneath him once more, gently parting her thighs with one of his knees.

She parted her legs further for him as she adjusted on the bed, wrapping her arms around his back and pulling him closer to her, her eyes wide once she opened them again, her mind had left her completely it seemed, but at that moment, she didn't care about anything else other than feeling more of what he had made her feel so far.

Oliver brushed his nose over hers lightly, kissing her softly on the mouth, even as his hand skimmed lightly down her body, slipping beneath her underwear, a finger stroking her with barely-there caresses.

"Oh," she moaned against his lips, lifting her hips toward his hand, seeking more contact.

He obliged without hesitation, adding a little more pressure to the contact and sliding another finger inside her slowly as he stroked her. He kissed her softly once more, then lowered his head to her collarbone, feathering kisses along her skin, paying attention whenever she gasped or made a soft noise of any kind, and repeating his actions as he memorized her body.

Her eyes rolled back into its sockets as she thrust her hips against his touch, her feet pressing down against the bed once more, her body confused by his gentle yet effective touches and although part of her wanted to beg him to go faster, most of her was enjoying the attention far too much for that.

Oliver eased a second finger into her slowly, trying to get her body used to the sensation of being filled because he didn't want to hurt her. He kissed his way lower once more, his tongue swirling around her now-bared nipple.

Her hips buckled against his fingers for just a second and then she started moving them a little faster, unable to stop herself from doing so, especially when she felt his lips on her breast once more, "Oliver," she gasped, the word just rolling off her tongue, but she wasn't paying attention to that, his touch and lips were bringing her close, so close.

He groaned softly at the way she gasped his name, switching breasts to show the other the same attention and gently pressing down on her clit with his thumb.

Bright, burning pleasure ran through her at the gentle touch. Not heavy and overwhelming, but just _right_. Her head fell back and she moaned deeply, her entire body arching toward his hand and mouth as she pressed her hands against his back, pulling him to her.

He buried his face between her breasts, easing a third finger into her as his thumb pressed down a little more on the sensitive bundle of nerves between her thighs.

"Oh," she cried out, closing her eyes tightly as she tried to find a place to hold on to, to pull him closer, she only found his hair, so she slid a hand into it tightly, thrusting her hips against his hand, his fingers stretching her was almost painful, but it didn't bother her, she gasped and moved against him, her entire body tense, seeking release and then, with just another movement of his thumb, she screamed loudly, her body shaking slightly as the tension began to dissolve even as she continued to move her hips against his hand, riding her orgasm out for everything she could.

Oliver lifted his head to watch her as she came undone, his fingers still stroking her as he helped her ride out the pleasure. His eyes were dark as he gazed down at her. "Beautiful," he whispered, taking in the sight of her flushed skin. He pressed a soft, tender kiss to her jaw.

Chloe shivered once more then took a couple of deep breaths, slowly opening her eyes when she felt his lips against her jaw, she untangled her fingers from his hair and ran them over the area she'd been grabbing slowly, her brain completely blank. She'd had orgasms before, good orgasms, but she had never had anyone build them up like this, and there was something else about the way Oliver was touching her that made this different, she just couldn't quite pinpoint what it was just yet.

"More," she demanded a moment later as she turned her head, pressing her lips to his ear.

"So demanding," he murmured with a soft chuckle, nuzzling his nose against her neck. He slid his arms beneath her and flipped them so she was on top of him.

She shifted when she suddenly found herself on top of him, her legs were still shaky, so she didn't dare getting up on her knees just yet. She stared down at him, her eyes dark as she put her weight on her arms after placing her hands on either side of his head and smirking slowly, she rubbed herself against the bulge that had formed against his boxers.

Oliver groaned at the sensation her movement caused, staring up at her with desire-filled eyes. "Tease," he murmured, reaching up and sliding a hand down her bare back.

"Where is it?" She asked, shivering again.

"Where is what?" he asked, leaning up just enough to kiss her neck.

"Condom," she reminded him, shivering again.

"Oh." He reached over to the bedside table and opened the drawer, pulling one out and holding it up for her to see.

She took the condom from him and nodded slightly, placing the package in her mouth as she pulled away from him enough to hook her fingers on his boxes and pull it down slowly, letting the elastic band of it run over his erection as she did, keeping her eyes on his face.

Oliver shuddered at her actions, keeping his eyes on hers, and reaching down to rest his hands on her hips.

Chloe pushed his boxers out of the way then took the package from her mouth and opened it, pulling the condom out and looking at him for a moment longer before reaching down and rolling the condom down over him slowly.

He gazed up at her, his eyes intense. "It's going to be a long night," he told her, not bragging. Just stating a fact.

"Is that a promise?" She asked, getting up on her knees and shifting until she was hoovering above him, her fingers wrapped around his length.

Oliver's jaw tightened a little. "Yes," he said with a nod, shifting beneath her just a little, lifting his hands to cup her breasts.

She smirked then lowered her body slowly, guiding him into her. The moment he started to slide inside of her, however, her body tensed and she closed her eyes, but didn't stop, trying her best not to let him notice.

He did notice however, feeling her sudden tension and tightening his grip on her hips, stopping her descent.

Chloe stilled when he forced her and opened her eyes, her jaw tightening a little even as she tried to will her body to relax.

Oliver gazed up at her for a moment, then shifted slightly, laying her down beneath him on the mattress once more.

"What are you doing?" She demanded tightly, not liking the loss of control that came with the change in positions.

"Relax, Chloe," he said softly, kissing a path down her body and spreading her legs gently with his hands.

"No," she said, stopping him as she held on to his arm, "don't."

He paused instantly, looking up at her. "Oh," he whispered. "Okay."

She relaxed slightly then nodded, tugging on his arm to pull him back up over her body.

Oliver shifted, leaning in and kissing her softly on the mouth, sliding his hand between them once more, beginning to stroke her again. "This okay?" he asked softly, lifting his head to look at her once more, watching her intently.

Chloe shook her head and shifted under him, lifting her legs and wrapping them around him, "I'm fine," she told him, pulling him closer to her with her legs.

"I don't want to hurt you," he whispered, resting his weight on his hands on either side of her body.

"You're not hurting me," she told him, holding his gaze, her stomach suddenly tight but she ignored it.

Oliver gazed down at her, kissing the corner of her mouth lightly. He shifted so his body was aligned with hers once more, keeping his eyes on her as he began to slide inside her slowly.

She closed her eyes once more, but tightened her legs around him, pulling him further into her despite the discomfort it was causing her, she knew it would only get better if he got it over with already.

He groaned involuntarily, burying his face into her neck as he found himself buried inside her all the way. He held his body in check, giving her time to adjust to his presence, and reaching between them to stroke her very, very lightly to try and get her to relax more.

Chloe gasped, her own body stilling as she kept her eyes closed tightly, then, after a long moment, she shifted slightly, focusing on the feelings his fingers were causing and not anything else. She moaned quietly, her eyes opening slowly as she looked up at him.

"Better?" he asked very softly, meeting her eyes, sincere concern in his.

She saw the concern in his eyes, he sounded so sincere, it hurt more than the area between her legs did. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes again, not wanting to see that look on his face, "yes."

"Good," he whispered, kissing her lightly and watching her face as he slid out of her, then back in, slowly, his face close to hers.

Chloe moaned, letting out her breath slowly but keeping her eyes shut tightly, it hurt a lot less this time so she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer.

Oliver shifted his weight to rest more on his hands again, dropping his mouth to nibble gently at her collarbone as he rocked against her gently.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pushing herself up and pressing herself against him as she turned her head, pressing her lips to his neck.

Comfortable that she seemed to be all right now, he flipped them once more so she was atop him.

Chloe gasped at that, opening her eyes before she could stop herself and taking a deep breath as she looked down at him.

He flashed a grin at her, resting his hands on her hips to steady her. "I don't have problems with sharing control," he told her.

She relaxed a little when she didn't see the same sincere concern on his eyes anymore and a smirk appeared on her lips slowly. "Points for you," she breathed as she pushed herself up, sitting on top of him and arching her back as she positioned herself over him, causing him to slide deeper inside of her.

"You feel amazing," he groaned, shifting and thrusting up into her.

Chloe took a deep breath and began to move her hips against his, picking up his hand as she moved and brushing it over her stomach, ribs, then covering her breast with it.

His eyes darkened a little and he brushed his thumb lightly over her nipple, teasing it into a hard peak. His other hand moved around, cupping her ass.

She moaned loudly, cupping his hand in hers as she arched her back further for better contact with him and with his hand.

Oliver couldn't take his eyes off her as she moved atop him, head thrown back, blond hair spilling down her shoulders. He thrust up into her again, meeting her halfway as they moved together.

She dropped her hand from his and moved both of her hands behind herself, placing them on his thighs for support.

"You're going to break your back," he murmured, shifting his hands to support her better.

"I'm fine," she moaned, nails digging into his legs as she started to move faster.

He groaned softly and sat up, pulling her closer to him so they were on even ground as they moved, one of his hands threading into her hair, his other arm winding tightly around her waist.

Chloe opened her eyes again and took a deep breath, looking at him her eyes dark, wide as she moved against him, he felt amazing inside of her now that the pain was gone, better than anyone ever had before.

He gazed at her intently, his eyes just as dark. "You have beautiful eyes," he murmured, nuzzling his nose lightly against hers, meeting her halfway with their movements.

As he said that, Chloe lifted a hand to the back of his neck and pulled his face to hers, kissing him hard, hungrily, she needed him to stop saying those things and sounding like the meant them, but more importantly, she needed him to stop looking at her like that.

Oliver kissed her back without hesitation, keeping one hand tangled in her hair, and then gently tugging her head back, dropping his mouth to kiss the front of her throat.

Chloe shivered, moving faster against him, she suddenly didn't want this to linger anymore, no matter how good he felt, the tightness in her chest had nothing to do with the sex. She had very little control over her emotions at the moment, but she still had plenty of control over their bodies so even as she lifted her head to allow him better access to her throat, she pulled one of his hands to her and slid it between their bodies, pressing his fingers against her clit. She knew she couldn't fake it with him, he would know.

Oliver stroked her without hesitation, suckling her skin lightly. "Come for me," he whispered, kissing the corner of her mouth.

Her moans became louder with each stroke and each thrust, she let go of his hand and wrapped both arms around him for support as her thrusts became more erratic. She turned her mouth and bit down on his bottom lip, only to let go of it to take a deep breath as a louder moan broke through her.

She moved her lips to his cheek, neck and eventually his shoulder, licking, kissing and nibbling on his skin as she got closer and closer, her mind so far gone, she barely noticed she was all but screaming against his skin and when her body shuddered hard as her orgasm hit her, she didn't really notice that her nibbling turned into a bite over the firm skin of his shoulder as her muscles clung to him as hard as her body could handle.

He groaned as her teeth bit into his skin and he shuddered hard as his own orgasm hit. He thrust up into her one last time, kissing her shoulder softly. He exhaled, sliding his hands down her back and then up again, caressing.

Chloe laid her forehead on his shoulder, breathless she barely noticed what he was doing, or that her own arms were wrapped tightly around him, as if she didn't want to let go. She didn't notice any of that, too focused on getting her heart rate back to normal.

He kissed the side of her neck lightly, still rubbing her back gently, closing his eyes. "You okay?" he murmured against her ear.

She blinked her eyes open when he spoke, her arms loosening around him immediately as she pulled back, "I'm fine," she told him, but didn't ask how he felt.

Oliver paused as she pulled away, letting his arms drop, as well. "All right."

With a deep breath, she shifted on his lap then pulled away completely, moving to sit on the bed. She would have liked to stand up, but her legs weren't firm enough for that yet.

He watched her for a moment. "Want something to drink?"

Chloe glanced at him then reached for her nightgown on the floor, pulling it on then shaking her head, "I should get back to my room," she said, unceremoniously as she stood up, "I have work early tomorrow." She lied.

"All right." He rose to his feet, as well, picking up his boxers off the floor and sliding them on.

She almost breathed in relief when he didn't argue, not that she thought he would, but this should be easy enough. She picked up her underwear but didn't bother wearing it, then she walked back to the bed and picked up her robe, folding it over her arm before picking up her keycard from the coffee table and turning to face him again, a smile appearing on her face, "thank you for the entertainment and company tonight." She said pleasantly.

"Likewise," he said quietly, gazing at her. "Happy New Year's, Chloe."

"Happy New Years, Mr. Queen." She told him, smiling a little more before making her way to the door.

As soon as she was back in her room, she closed and locked the door quickly behind herself, taking a deep breath as her face fell. She hadn't expect that to go that way at all, she hadn't expected him to be so... attentive, caring, so _tender_ , even if it meant nothing to him, which she knew it didn't, he had just made everything harder. She wasn't sure she could fully hate the guy anymore, let alone destroy him.

She was going to need a much better plan before things got more complicated.


	6. Chapter 6

  


Lois was surprised when she heard from Oliver just a couple of weeks after their first meeting. He asked her if she could meet with him at the Talon once more. She wasn't sure why he had chosen this place again considering she worked pretty close to where he did, but whatever worked for him.

Once more, shockingly enough, she got there early, anxious to hear what the man had to say about her cousin. It definitely would be more than what she knew about her life right now, and that was definitely progress.

Needless to say, as he sat down across from her, he felt more than a little awkward. "Hey," he said softly, offering her a small smile and motioning for the waitress to refill her coffee.

"Hey," she greeted, waiting impatiently for the waitress to refill her cup and walk away, but wasting no time in leaning forward once she did, "so, what did you find out?" She asked almost immediately.

He exhaled, picking up his water glass that the waitress had set down and taking a long drink. "I think she's spying on me."

Lois' eyes widened a little at that as she leaned forward, "what makes you say that?"

"Because when I arrived at my hotel in New York City last weekend, she just happened to be there, at the same hotel, supposedly on business." He raised his eyebrows at her. "And I don't think it was a coincidence. I don't believe in them."

"Do you know what kind of business?" She asked, frowning. "Did you talk to her?"

"She said she was there overseeing some LuthorCorp charity-related things." He leaned back in his chair.

"Well did you check to see if that was true? If there were charity things?"

"There were," he said with a slight nod. "But nothing big enough to require someone as high up as Chloe overseeing them."

"Why would she be spying on you, though?" Lois asked, "what else did she say?"

Oliver was silent for a moment, his thoughts immediately flashing back to their 'no strings attached fun.' His eyes glazed over and didn't respond.

"Oliver?" Lois said, snapping her fingers close to his face, "still here if you care to share."

He blinked a couple of times, his gaze focusing on her face once more. "Sorry," he mumbled, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "It's just a gut feeling. I've dealt with corporate espionage before," he explained, shrugging a little.

"What was that for?" Lois asked suspiciously.

"What was what for?" he asked, on guard.

"That look on your face," she said, watching him closely, "you were all lost in thought, if we're going to make this work, you have to tell me what you know."

"I _am_ telling you what I know." He leaned in a little, shifting in his seat. "But yes, we talked. More than I'd intended. And she knows that I did my homework on her, and that I know her father died at the hands of the same man that killed my parents."

Lois blinked, her eyes widening slightly, "okay, well, are you going to talk to her again? I mean if you guys talked about Uncle Gabe she has to somewhat trust you."

Oliver nodded a little. "I have no doubt I'll be seeing her again, especially if I am right and she is spying on me."

"How pissed was she when she found out you were spying on her?" She asked.

"Pissed," he admitted. "I did, however, point out that she had stormed my office and informed me she and Lex were taking over my company and I had a right to know who I was dealing with."

"And what did she do?" Lois asked, smirking slightly.

"Yelled. A lot." He took another drink. _And then jumped me._

"Sounds like Chlo," she said fondly. "Then what?"

"Then nothing." He shrugged, very glad he had a good poker face. He and Lois might be working together on this, but she didn't need to know _all_ the details.

"Well did she leave pissed?" Lois pushed, not satisfied with the lack of details.

Oliver considered that for a moment. "No. Just cool and distant."

Her face fell a little at that, "that doesn't sound like her, but I guess that's what she's like now."

He hesitated, then reached out and put his hand over hers lightly. "I'm not giving up."

"Good," Lois said instantly then nodded, "what are you thinking of doing next?"

"Giving her a dose of her own medicine," he said quietly.

Lois frowned at that, "meaning what?"

"That it's time to call in one of the others to do a little computer work for me," he said, a small smile touching his mouth. "And just happen to turn up where she least expects me."

"And what happens next?" Lois asked, leaning forward once more.

"That all depends on her," he said quietly.

"You have got to go in with some sort of plan," she said, frowning.

"If there's one thing I'm good at besides hiding my other identity, it's improvising. And in your cousin's case, I'm afraid that's the only option I've got."

"Chloe is really smart," she reminded him, "if you're not careful, she will see right through it and blow up your chances."

"And that's why I have to go with improvisation with her. Because she _is_ smart," he agreed, nodding.

Lois nodded slightly, "just make sure you don't lose her."

 _That's the plan_ , he thought.

"How long did you talk to her for?" Lois asked, her attention suddenly turning to her mug.

"Half hour maybe?" The rest of the time had been spent...not talking.

"That long?" She said, clearly surprised as she lifted her head to look at him again.

"Neither of us had plans," he said, taking another drink of his water.

"Well, what else did you talk about?" She asked curiously, sitting on the edge of her chair. Anything she could hear about her cousin helped since _she_ couldn't have a half hour long conversation with her.

Oliver shifted in his seat. "Just chit chat really. We had a drink together."

"Drink?" Lois echoed then nodded a little, "when are you planning on tracking her down?"

"I've got Vic working on it as we speak."

"Do you think you can get through to her?" She asked bluntly a moment later.

He looked up and met her eyes. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be wasting my time," he said quietly.

Lois took a deep breath and nodded a little before looking back down at her coffee.

Oliver gave her hand a gentle squeeze, then picked up his glass of water and took a drink. "We'll figure it out."

"Lois?" Clark called a moment later as he made his way to the booth they were sitting in.

Lois glanced up, surprised. "Clark?" Her eyebrows furrowed a little. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted pie," he told her, frowning and glancing at Oliver.

"Hey, Clark," Oliver greeted him with a slight nod. _Awkward._

Clark nodded at the man then looked back at Lois, "what is going on here?"

Lois pursed her lips, glancing from Clark to Oliver and back again. "We're just talking," she said, scooting over so he could sit down.

He hesitated before taking the seat next to his girlfriend and instantly wrapping a possessive arm over her shoulders, "what about?"

Oliver barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the possessive, suspicious look that Clark shot him.

"About Chloe," she said quietly, her voice calm.

"What about her?" He asked, his expression tense all of the sudden.

"Oliver's helping me," she said evenly.

Clark turned to look at Oliver, eyes narrowing instantly, "why?"

"Because it's what I do," he told Clark, not the least bit intimidated.

"Chloe is none of your business."

"She is now," Lois informed him, giving him a warning look.

Clark shifted and looked away from Oliver, taking a moment to look at Lois, "why are you doing this?"

"Because she is my _cousin_ , Clark."

"She's just going to hurt you more, Lois," he pleaded, "she doesn't want anything to do with us."

"If it was your cousin, you wouldn't be giving up this easily." She pushed at him lightly in order to get out of the booth.

Clark sighed and shifted, getting out of the booth and standing up for her.

Oliver watched as Lois rose to her feet and headed toward the stairs without another word. Scratching the back of his neck, he stood up, as well.

With another sigh, Clark looked at Oliver for a moment and then, without another word followed Lois up the stairs.

* * *

It was about a week since Chloe had left New York. She had packed that same night and before the sun was even up, she had been in a LuthorCorp car, on the way to the airport. She had no intentions of chancing seeing Oliver again, not until she could figure out her next move precisely. Which she hadn't yet.

She had been completely ignoring the issue since that night at the hotel and she had also been avoiding Lex because she didn't want to answer questions or even think about it. Instead she had been keeping herself unnecessarily busy with small LuthorCorp projects. She had started organizing two fundraisers and even started working on Lex's upcoming senator campaign, something that could wait about six more months before she had to start worrying about it.

And said small projects were why she was in the heart of downtown Metropolis on a very cold January morning just before ten. She had documents with her as she walked down the block from her penthouse over to the MetU Business and Finance campus, which had just opened up again after the break. Every year during the summer LuthorCorp picked two students from the university to intern in the company's Metropolis headquarters and she had to drop off the application forms.

Of course this process didn't usually start until late March, but Chloe had been considering taking Lex's offer to hire her an assistant and she planned on hand-picking one for herself and if she did get one, she planned on giving that opportunity to someone who went to MetU, to honor her school and help someone who wouldn't have the same opportunities as someone who went to Harvard or Yale.

Oliver had just received a text from Victor about an upcoming LuthorCorp fundraiser that Vic felt certain that Chloe was organizing. He figured the other man's assessment was likely accurate and sent him a text thanking him for the information, not watching where he was going as he walked down the sidewalk, his jacket pulled tightly around him. But when he felt someone bump into him, he quickly reached out to steady the person as they stumbled. When his hand landed on her hip, he knew before he even looked up at her that it _was_ her. A shot of electricity flared through him at the light touch and he looked up to meet her eyes.

Chloe stilled instantly and she also knew it was him before she looked up, when her face nearly connected with his chest. She felt _something_ , but ignored it as she turned her head up to look at him, her eyes widening slightly at the confirmation.

"Hey," he said softly, making sure she was steady on her feet before moving his hand away. "Sorry."

She blinked and pulled away from him, straightening herself, "what are you doing here?"

Oliver raised his eyebrows a little. "Walking," he told her, then nodded at the building down the street. "To Queen Industries."

Her eyes narrowed at him, "of course you are."

He paused, not sure what to make of her expression. "And where are you heading this morning?"

"MetU," she told him, nodding toward the building behind him, her expression blank.

"I see. Well, I'll let you go then." Oliver stepped aside and started to head away, his heart beating a little more quickly than usual, which he was chalking up to being caught off guard.

Her own heart was beating fast against her chest and she took a deep breath as he started to walk away, "have a good day, Mr. Queen," she called after him, she needed some control after all.

Oliver turned at that, surprised. "You too, _Miss Sullivan_."

Chloe smirked a little and nodded at him before turning around and continuing on her way, her mouth suddenly dry.

He watched her head away, his chest tightening a little even though he wasn't entirely sure why. "Chloe. Wait."

She stilled, her jaw clenching when he called her by her first name, but by the time she turned around, her expression was completely neutral as she arched an eyebrow curiously.

He was quiet as he walked up to her once more. "Look, we should talk. Would you have lunch with me later?"

Chloe stared at him for a moment, "what would you like to talk about?"

Oliver's eyes met hers. "I think you already know the answer to that."

"I do?" She asked, cocking her head before stepping closer, "somehow I doubt all your one night stands get the same treatment, Mr. Queen."

He held his breath for a moment, gazing at her intently. "We both know there's a little more to it than that, don't we, Miss Sullivan?" he murmured, searching her eyes.

"As I remember correctly, you were the one who wanted to make it clear that there were no strings attached," she told him, "I fail to see what else there could be to it."

Without warning, he reached out and tucked some hair behind her ear, watching her.

Her stomach and chest clenched instantly and she took a step back as if his touch had burned her, "what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Proving a point," he murmured. "I'll be at Pastabilities at 12:30 if you change your mind." Without waiting for her to respond, he turned and headed down the sidewalk.

She blinked a couple of times then let out her breath slowly, her face falling once more but she turned around and quickly walked away in the opposite direction.


	7. Chapter 7

Oliver looked around the crowded ballroom at the Luthor mansion. He'd been slightly surprised when he'd received an invitation to the event--a fundraiser to assist with building a new addition to Metropolis General Hospital's Cancer Care Center. Especially since he knew that Chloe Sullivan was the one who'd organized it. Then again, the fundraiser needed large sums of money, and she wanted to make an impression on her employer.

Sipping his champagne, he stood off to the edge of the crowd, on guard.

She was already there of course, watching every detail closely like she did in every major event she organized, the difference today was that she was being followed around by her _very_ eager new assistant Thomas.

Thomas was a senior in the business program at MetU, he was a couple of years older than she was and he was absolutely gorgeous. Chloe was perfectly capable of keeping up with her workload and doing everything she had to do, but she had hired Thomas anyway because she wanted to prove a point.

Which, the second her eyes fell on Oliver in the corner of the room, she decided it was time to start to do.

She stopped walking and turned to face the much taller man, a smile on her lips as she looked up at him. He had just started a week before the event and this was his first real interaction with some of the most powerful men in the country, which meant he was nervous, and nerves were just not something she found attractive and if Oliver were to believe this was her new toy, she needed him to act the part.

"So, what do you think about the event so far?" She asked him, looking up at his bright blue eyes and dirty blond hair. Her smile soft, almost reassuring, she needed him to calm down.

"It's quieter than I expected," he admitted, smiling down at her faintly and then glancing around.

"People here are used to not wanting to be overheard," she smirked softly and lowered her voice, "unless they are bragging about something of course."

Thomas nodded a little at that. "With all the money most of the people here have, I'm sure they do that a lot."

"And when they do, be sure to encourage them and agree with how amazing whatever they are bragging about sounds," she told him, reaching up and adjusting his tie.

"Stroke the egos of the rich and famous. Check." He smiled a little nervously.

"Most important lesson you will ever learn," she smirked and cocked her head, "especially when you are trying to get them to give you their money."

Thomas nodded once more. "That makes sense." His eyes widened a little as he glanced across the room. "Is that Bruce Wayne?"

Chloe glanced over her shoulder, the same pleasant smile firmly in place, "that would be him," she told him then glanced to her right out of corner of her eyes, "and that would be Oliver Queen over there," she told him, ignoring the tightness of her chest.

"The big three from Excelsior," he commented, his eyes wide. "All under one roof. Does that happen often? According to everything I've read, Mr. Wayne rarely leaves Gotham."

"It is rare," she agreed, "I never met Bruce Wayne personally before, but apparently he had good enough reason to make an appearance here tonight," she told Thomas, her eyes narrowing slightly even as she spoke, she had to make sure to cross check Bruce and Oliver, see how often the two spoke these days.

"Do you think...it would be all right if I went and spoke with him?" Thomas raised his eyebrows, looking from Bruce then to Chloe.

"Absolutely," she told him then took a step closer, "as long as you make sure to tone _this_ down." She said, a little more firmly this time as she stared up at him.

He blinked a couple of times, swallowing hard at the look on her face. "Of course," he said, straightening, his face becoming more neutral.

"Good," Chloe smiled softly and pulled back, "go ahead then, check how one of our guests is enjoying the party." This should help her too, of course as she had just attached a microphone to his tie and would be able to listen to the audio later when she got back to the penthouse.

Nodding, he smiled politely at her and headed in Bruce's direction.

She watched as he walked away then took a deep breath, she had been feeling Oliver's eyes on her for a while, so she turned around slowly and smiled softly at him before making her way over to him slowly, "glad you could join us, Mr. Queen." She said pleasantly.

Oliver took a sip of his champagne. "As am I," he responded just as pleasantly. If she wanted to play games, he'd oblige. At least for the time being anyway. "Another nicely organized fundraiser."

"Thank you," she told him, still smiling softly, "if you have any suggestions on how to improve, I would love to hear them, however."

He glanced at her curiously. "Does Lex not give you feedback on how well you're doing, or make suggestions on improvement?" His voice was quiet, not judging. Simply curious.

"I try to ask the guests for feedback," she told him, "I find them more constructive than Lex's usual 'excellent job'."

Oliver nodded slightly, watching her. "You should mingle more," he told her quietly.

"Are you trying to get rid of me, Mr. Queen?" She smirked.

He smiled faintly and shook his head. "No. I meant in general, at these kinds of functions." He nodded slightly toward the crowd. "Mingle more, get to know some of them." He lowered his voice. "Here's a tip: most of them aren't quite as stuffy and arrogant as they appear to be at first glance."

"I have dealt with plenty of them, I usually do mingle plenty, but if that's your suggestion, I will take it into consideration."

"Dealing with them and getting to know them aren't quite the same thing," he said softly, not looking at her.

"You think I need to add them to my ever growing BFF list?" She asked, arching her eyebrows.

A faint smile touched his mouth and he glanced at her. "I didn't say that, either. But you might be surprised what you find if you give them half a chance."

"And by them," she said, arching her eyebrows and staring up at him, "you mean you."

"I mean just because you're working for Lex Luthor doesn't mean you should hide yourself away," he said quietly, meeting her eyes, his own filled with sadness. "Unless that's what he requires of you."

"Lex doesn't control my personal life, Oliver. I do." She said firmly, the look in his eyes making her chest tight. Why did he have to be so good at pretending he cared?

"All right," he said softly, looking down at the floor for a moment, then back at her. "You look lovely." His voice was completely sincere.

"Thank you," she said quietly, looking out at the room to stop herself from asking him what the hell he wanted with her.

Oliver's chest was tight as he nodded a little. He wondered at what point saving Chloe Sullivan from Lex Luthor had become so very _personal_ for him. By most of his discussions with her, she seemed like a cold, hard bitch. But every once in awhile she got a faraway look in her eyes, and he sensed there was so much she was holding back, he couldn't help but want to get to know the real her. The hints of vulnerability he saw in her made him want to string up Lex, and he took a long drink of his champagne to keep himself from putting his hands on her. "I should let you go talk to your other guests."

Chloe glanced across the room where Thomas was still talking to Bruce Wayne and nodded, "it looks like I need to rescue a former classmate of yours."

He followed her gaze across the room and nodded slightly. "I'm sure it would be appreciated. It was nice to see you again," he said quietly, setting down his now empty glass. "Have a good evening."

She nodded at him, not really wanting to walk away, but she smiled, "enjoy the rest of the party," she told him before walking away without looking at him again.

Oliver watched her go, then pressed the comm link nestled in his ear. "Going in," he murmured to Vic, then headed out of the ballroom after glancing around. Lex and Chloe were both caught up with conversations with other people. He made his way out into the hallway, knowing Vic had already taken down the security cameras remotely, and quickly made his way down the corridor toward the study.

He glanced around the empty room, his gaze falling quickly on Lex's computer. Bingo. He moved over closer to it, setting down the tiny device that would copy Lex's entire harddrive and glancing toward the doors. He moved around the desk, digging through desk drawers, but not seeing any kind of files that were particularly interesting to him. He straightened once more, grabbing the tiny device as the light flashed from red to green and tucking it away carefully into his pocket. "Target acquired." He headed for the door once more.

The fundraiser was almost over, the crowd had thinned out considerably and Chloe had been handed a check for a donation to one of the sixty-year old men who was trying to impress her with the amount of zeroes he could write on the paper. She was making her way to Lex's study to place the check in the safe when she found Oliver in the third floor corridor, "somehow, I don't think you would be the type to get lost in a mansion." She said, tensing instantly.

He paused in his tracks. "I'm not. I was using the restroom," he informed her, pointing down the hall from the direction he'd just come. "The others were occupied and I couldn't wait anymore."

"We have two others just outside the ballroom, Mr. Queen, you didn't have to come all this way." She told him, not believing him for a second.

"Did you miss the lines?" he asked with vague amusement, simply because that much was actually true.

"Apparently I did, I will make sure we have more facilities available for the next event." She said blankly, "would you like me to accompany you back to the ballroom?"

"If you want," he agreed without hesitation. "How's the turn out so far?"

"Excellent," she told him, "if you will come with me, I just need to place this in the safe and I can go back down with you." She told him, figuring it was better to take him to the safe than let him out of her sight.

"Sure. I still need to make my own donation anyway," he told her, watching her from the corner of his eye as they headed down the hall, back toward the study.

"We will be accepting them for the next twenty-four hours," she said pleasantly, pushing the study door open a second later.

"Well, I'll go ahead and make out my check, since I'm heading back to California in the morning." He pulled his checkbook from his jacket pocket.

"If that will be more convenient for you," she told him, picking up a pen from Lex's desk and holding it out to Oliver.

"Thank you," he responded, chest tightening the second their fingers touched.

Her pupils dilated slightly at the touch but she gave no other indication of how much it had affected her otherwise.

Oliver swallowed hard, moving to sit down on the small sofa as he opened his checkbook, scratching out a check quickly.

She watched him for a moment then walked up to the safe, the visible, smaller one anyway and opened it, placing the original check inside then waiting for Oliver's.

He finished, then rose to his feet, sliding the checkbook back and place and handing her back the pen with his check, meeting her eyes for a moment.

"Thank you," she said, her stomach in knots as she took the check and pen, carefully this time so their hands wouldn't touch again, then turned around to place his check in the safe with the others, keeping her back to him for as long as she could.

He gazed at her intently, taking in the sight of the bare skin of her shoulder blades and wondering what she would do if he dared kiss her there. His eyes were darker than usual at the fleeting thought.

Chloe closed the safe door and turned to face him a moment later, her eyes widening a little at the look on his face, "thank you for your donation," she said, her voice lower this time.

"Happy to accomodate," he murmured, his own voice deeper than before.

"If you have any questions about the project, I can help you with them," she said the line she'd been saying every time she got a donation, even as her body betrayed her, responding to his closeness although he wasn't even touching her.

"I have no doubt," he told her, stepping closer to her without really thinking about it.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" She asked, she tried to throw the 'Mr. Queen' in the end of the sentence to put distance between them, but the words just wouldn't come out of her mouth.

Not able to stop himself, one of his hands moved to cup her cheek, his thumb stroking lightly over her skin as he searched her eyes.

Chloe swallowed hard, her stomach tightening at that and she shook her head, "what do you want from me?" She asked tightly.

"Is it so hard to believe that I just _like_ you?" he asked quietly, reluctantly dropping his hand away from her.

She didn't answer, her jaw clenching tightly as she stared up at him, trying to control herself once more. His chest tightened at the look on her face and he stepped back away from her. "Goodnight," he whispered, head down as he made his way toward the door.

Chloe blew out a breath as quietly as possible as he walked away, her eyes tearing up as she lowered her head.

"Take care of yourself," he murmured, not looking back at her.

"Just get out." She whispered to him, turning to walk toward the small bar with no plans to return to the party.

Oliver paused at the quiet words, then turned to look at her. "Is there a reason you hate me?" he asked quietly.

"Don't give yourself so much credit, _Mr. Queen_ ," she said sharply, her back to him as she picked up a glass, "you don't matter enough for me to hate you," she lied.

He flinched involuntarily, the words cutting him deeper than he'd expected them to. "Your actions seem to contradict your words, _Chloe_."

Her jaw clenched when he used her name, her stomach turning as she poured herself a drink, "if you wish to fool yourself into thinking otherwise, please, be my guest."

"Well, for someone who claims that I don't matter, I certainly seem to be pissing you off." He watched her intently.

Chloe picked up her glass and turned to face him, her expression completely void of emotions once more, "your presence here is unwanted, that much is true," she said evenly as she took a couple of steps in his direction, "however, that would hold true to anyone else." Another step toward him and the hint of a smirk appeared on her lips, "I'm sure it's hard for you to believe someone wouldn't want to be around you, but I'm not like the girls you're used to, Mr. Queen. There is absolutely nothing you can offer me that I can't get for myself."

"And I'm not the man that you seem to think I am, Chloe. Don't pretend to know me when you very clearly don't," he said quietly, his gaze not leaving her face. "And I don't think I ever said there was anything I could offer you that didn't already have access to." He raised an eyebrow at her. "So since you have no regard for me, and have no desire to get to know who I really am, I'll go and I'm sure you'll have absolutely _no_ trouble at all finding someone else to donate a couple hundred grand to you that will then allow you to treat them like _shit_." Without waiting for a response, he headed for the door once again.

"I'm not a whore, Oliver. If the reason why you donated was to buy time with me, feel free to take your check back." She said sharply.

Oliver froze in his tracks at that, then turned slowly to face her, a cold, humorless chuckle escaping him. "I donated because it's a good cause," he informed her, this time his voice distant and cold. "Don't _flatter_ yourself, Miss Sullivan. I don't need to buy _anyone_."

"Then perhaps you shouldn't insinuate that you donated your money and in exchange got treated badly." She said simply, "interacting with me was not a requirement for the donations, neither was coming to the fundraiser."

"I'll keep that in mind for the next charitable event that LuthorCorp hosts," he said evenly. "Feel free to leave my name off the guest list next time." Shaking his head, his jaw tight, he turned and headed for the door.

"Have a good night, Mr. Queen," she muttered, not caring if he heard her or not, her jaw tight as well as she made her way back to the vault, placing her full glass over it then opening it and picking out Oliver's check from the inside, reading the amount before taking it to the shredder and sliding it into the machine. She would match the donation herself, but she didn't want his money or anything else that came from him for that matter.


	8. Chapter 8

  


Chloe had headed to Reggis', a local steakhouse less than a block from the LuthorCorp towers in Metropolis for a business meeting with Lex and a couple of french investors. Dinner had turned into a four hour event and it was nearly midnight by the time she was walking back. Lex had left with the investors for some night time entertainment and she had left on her own since she had no desire to join them for that particular portion of the evening.

It was a relatively warm March night and the walk wasn't bad anyway.

Three men lingering in an alley entrance, smoking, watched as she headed past them, and one of them whistled at her. "Hey, Sweetheart," another called.

She rolled her eyes and kept going, ignoring the men but reaching inside her purse for the small gun she carried with her at all times.

"Wanna come party with us, Baby?" the third asked as they began to follow her.

"Fuck off," Chloe muttered, wrapping her fingers around the gun.

"Big talk for such a little girl," the first commented, moving so he was walking beside her, the other two right behind her.

Without warning an arrow whistled through the air and the man beside her dropped to the ground, convulsing violently.

Chloe blinked when she heard the noise next to her and quickly turned to see the man on the floor. As the other two turned to their friend and one of them reached down for the guy who had hit the floor, she pulled her gun and held it to the third man's temple, "who's a little girl now?"

"Easy there, Beautiful," a man with a distorted voice said from a few feet away, a crossbow aimed at the same man.

She looked behind the man who had stilled completely now and squinted in the darkness, trying to see whoever it was and then, when she saw the crossbow she recognized him instantly. Green Arrow. "Either you shoot or I will."

"Just move to the side so I don't hit you," he told her.

Chloe eyed him for a moment then, keeping the gun aimed at the man's head, pulled back slowly. Except, a second later, the man who had bent down to help the first one tackled her to the ground, causing the gun to go off as she hit the concrete, hard.

And a second after that, the man she'd been aiming at had an arrow through his hand pinning him to the wall even as he screamed loudly. He moved quickly, yanking the other man off her and shoving him violently. "I don't like it when men attack women," he informed them angrily, firing a taser arrow at the man, his back to Chloe. "Pretty much I think you deserve whatever you get." He kicked the first man as he started to sit up. "You get up and I'll give you exactly that."

She groaned quietly once the man's weight was off of her and slowly, started to get up, wincing. She had apparently fallen over her arm and now her wrist was burning, if she had to guess based on the pain, it was broken.

He moved over to her slowly. "Are you all right?" He extended one gloved hand toward her.

Swallowing hard, she nodded and placed the safety back on her gun before dropping it inside her purse with her good hand and taking his offered hand in the same one, "yeah," she breathed, "thank you."

"You're hurt," he said as he helped her up carefully.

"Just my wrist," she said tightly because of the pain, "I'll live."

"The police will be here shortly," he told her, watching her for a moment. "I can get you to the hospital quickly."

"I can have my doctor look at it," she told him, pausing for a moment, her eyes a little wide as she stared up at him, "you're real."

"I am," he confirmed, gazing at her through his night-vision glasses.

Chloe bit down on her bottom lip and took a step closer, her wrist was still burning, but curiosity was almost making it possible to ignore, "why do you do this?"

He was silent for a moment. "Someone has to try and make things better, don't they?"

"Are you human?" She asked, looking at him with big eyes, "or are you a mutant?"

A faint smile tugged at his mouth. "Completely human," he told her honestly. He had a feeling he was seeing the most _real_ side of Chloe Sullivan yet.

She bit down on her bottom lip, watching him closely for a moment, "why would you risk yourself like this?" She asked quietly, her chest suddenly tight.

"Like I said, I just want to make the world a better place," he said, shaking his head a little.

Chloe blew out a breath and nodded, glancing down at the men who were still on the floor before looking at him again, "I'm glad someone still believes that's possible."

"You don't?" he questioned.

"I believe it's not for all of us," she told him quietly then took a step back, "thank you again," she said before starting to turn away from him and get back on her way.

At that moment, a police car turned down that road, sirens blaring and lights flashing.

"Dammit," he muttered, wrapping his arm around her. "Hold on," he ordered, firing an anchor line at the roof.

Chloe's eyes widened and she felt herself being pulled up, away from the ground, she held on to him tightly with her good hand and closed her eyes.

He set her down carefully on the roof a moment later. "I'm sorry. I didn't figure you'd want to get caught up in a lot of legal red tape."

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes slowly, looking around for a moment before shaking her head, "no, not really," she said in a whisper, looking up at him again in awe, "thank you."

"You're welcome," he told her, looking toward the access door that led to the staircase. "You all right from here?"

Chloe glanced over at it then nodded a little, pulling away from him slowly, "yeah, I'll be okay."

"I hope it's not broken," he said quietly.

"It doesn't matter," she told him just as quietly, looking down at her wrist then back at him.

"Why not?" He cocked his head to the side, frowning as he gazed at her.

"It just doesn't," she told him, trying for a smile, "nothing I do will ever matter as much as what you're doing."

"You never know. One decision could change the entire course of your life, and someone else's forever. You have no idea what kind of effect you could have on someone," he told her quietly.

"I do have a pretty good idea what kind of effect I can have on someone and on their lives," she said, smiling wanly at him, her chest tight, "which is why it's better if I avoid trying to make a difference altogether." She had no idea why she was telling him all of this, maybe because he was behind a mask, maybe because he had saved her life, maybe because people like him reminded her of the hope and trust she used to have in people. Regardless, it didn't matter if he knew all that, he could never use it against her without exposing his identity and considering he probably didn't even know who she was, it mattered even less what he knew.

Oliver's chest was tight as she spoke to him and at that moment, he wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms and just give her a hug. "Because something bad happened to someone you cared about?" He already knew the answer, knew exactly who she was talking about, and now he knew the exact moment when Chloe Sullivan had become detached from everyone except Lex Luthor.

"Like I said, it doesn't matter," she told him again, "I'm sure there are people who need you out there, I've kept you long enough." Chloe said quietly before starting to the stairs.

"Be careful out there," he told her, watching her as she headed away. "Maybe I'll see you around." He moved to stand on the edge of the roof, taking aim at a flagpole across the street.

Chloe turned to look over at him, blinking when she realized he was gone, she sighed deeply and pursed her lips together for a moment, "you too," she murmured before starting down the stairs.

* * *

Oliver knocked on the Talon's door loudly, hoping Lois was there. It was early, and it was also entirely possible she'd spent the night at the Kents', but he'd rather take his chances that she might be there than deal with Clark.

Lois had been in bed still, so it took her awhile to get to the door, when she did, hair all over the place, bunny slippers on her feet and a big yawn as she opened the door, "this better be good."

"Very," he informed her, barely glancing at her as he made his way inside the apartment.

She blinked and closed the door, frowning a little then walking over to the coffee maker to start it, "did you find out something?"

"I didn't," he told her. "But...Green Arrow had a run-in with your cousin last night."

"You did?" Lois' eyes widened and she stilled, "what happened? Is she okay?"

"Three guys were looking for trouble and found her instead," Oliver explained. "She hurt her wrist, but otherwise she's physically fine."

"Physically," Lois said, arching an eyebrow and waiting for him to explain.

"She's cut you off because she's scared, Lois," he told her quietly. "That being too close to you--to anyone...will get them killed. The same way her dad was."

Lois blinked a couple of times and shook her head, "what? That's ridiculous, why would she think that?"

"Fear isn't rational," he said softly.

She shook her head and took a couple of steps to Oliver, "are you sure that's why?"

"She doesn't hate you, Lois. It's the exact opposite," he said with certainty.

Lois sighed deeply, "why wouldn't she try to reach out to me? Ask for help or something."

"Because that's what she did with her dad and look what happened to him," he said gently.

"But we could have figured things out, she didn't have to be with Lex for all these years." Lois said, shaking her head again.

"She thinks she's poison," Oliver said very softly. "That whoever is close to her will get hurt, or worse." He swallowed hard, looking away from her. "But I think Green Arrow just might be able to get through to her."

"What makes you think that, she doesn't know you're you, does she?"

"She has no idea. But...she had a completely different attitude than I've seen from her. Softer. More vulnerable."

Lois nodded a little and looked at him for a moment, "do you think she'd listen to him?"

"Maybe," he said quietly.

"Okay," Lois nodded, "if you think it can work, do whatever you have to."

"All right. On it." He offered her a smile and headed for the door. "Oh, and Lois?"

"Yeah?" She asked even though she was mostly lost in thought.

"Nice bunny slippers," he said lightly, smirking as he left her apartment.

Lois shrugged a little as she looked down at them, "they were Chloe's."

He paused at that, and turned to look at her. "Oh," he whispered.

She smiled a little at that, "maybe she'll be the kind of girl who wears bunny slippers again eventually."

He met her eyes and smiled faintly, nodding.

He really hoped so.

Because he had a feeling that he really wanted to know that Chloe.


	9. Chapter 9

  


"I followed the signal to LuthorCorp," Bruce said over the speaker phone, his eyes on the monitors he had set up in his brand new batcave, "of course I was blocked out the second it entered the building, but we are missing something there." He said evenly, his voice deeper than his usual voice but not quite as deep as Batman's.

Oliver raked a hand through his hair as he sat at his desk in his clocktower apartment. A couple weeks ago, he'd made the decision to move to Metropolis on a semi-permanent basis. If he was going to keep his promise to Lois--to get Chloe away from Lex--he was going to have to be in Kansas to do it. Of course, it was all under the guise of the Metropolis branch of Queen Industries needing some revamping. "Clearly," he answered with a sigh, leaning back in his chair.

"We need an insider," Bruce grumbled.

Of course. He felt his heart skip a beat at the idea that began to dawn on him. "I'll call you back," he said, hanging up the phone. He glanced at the clock on his computer. It was nearly ten p.m. and he knew that Chloe was supposed to be having a late dinner with Lex and a couple of other employees. If he moved fast, maybe he wouldn't be too late.

In ten minutes, he was dressed in his Green Arrow uniform, the flash drive in his hand, and he was making his way from rooftop to rooftop through downtown Metropolis.

It was about ten thirty when Chloe left the restaurant, this time it was two, not one block away from her apartment, but she still walked back. She'd been walking back every night in hopes to see Green Arrow again. She knew he wasn't the only one out there, there were others, but if her suspicions were correct about who was behind the red and blue blur, she didn't expect him to come to her rescue anytime soon.

Besides, according to the man himself, Green Arrow was just _human_ , he didn't have any special abilities, any meteor powers to help him. He was just like everyone else, except he went out of his way to help people, to rescue them and that fascinated her. It made her want to help him somehow, even if she knew she couldn't and the man had absolutely no reason to trust her anyway, but it was nice to think about it.

Fate was apparently on his side, and as he spotted her approaching her apartment building, he dropped down to the ground in front of her silently.

Chloe had been lost in thought and her head had been lowered slightly so when she just felt a presence in front of her, she blinked and instinctively took a step back, eyes wide as she lifted her head and widening even more when she realized the man in front of her was the man currently occupying her thoughts. She looked around for a moment to make sure she wasn't being followed then at him again, "and here I thought you only showed up when someone was in trouble."

His smile was faint, barely there. "Sometimes people are in trouble and don't even realize it," he told her, his voice distorted.

"Is that so?" She asked, raising her eyebrows, "and I assume you think I'm in trouble?"

"I am," he answered. "Possibly."

She blinked and frowned at that, "you are?" She asked, not sure what to make of it.

He held up the small flash drive in his hand wordlessly.

Chloe frowned and took the flash drive after a moment's consideration, "what is this?"

"Encrypted information I can't seem to crack. Information I need," he admitted, watching her intently.

She arched an eyebrow and looked down at it then back at him, tensing suddenly, "what makes you think I would be able to help you with this?"

He hesitated a moment. "I checked on you that night," he admitted, his gaze shifting to her wrist. "Is it healing okay?"

"It's fine," she said tightly then held the device back to him, "but there is nothing I can do for you."

His chest tightened at that. "All right," he said simply, his fingers brushing against hers as he took the flash drive back.

She didn't let go of the device, "what made you think I could help you?" Even if he had checked her up, he should know who she worked for.

He gazed at her. "I heard a rumor you were good with computers."

"I don't like rumors," she told him, holding her breath, "and my employer doesn't like your kind."

"And what about you?" His voice was quiet, even with the distorter.

"What about me?"

"Do you hate my kind, too?" He cocked his head to the side.

"No," she told him, looking away then shaking her head, "but that doesn't mean you should trust me."

"I see," he said quietly, their hands still touching as they both grasped onto the small flash drive.

Chloe dropped her hand a second later and looked down, "does he have anything to do with this?"

"Do you really want to know the answer to that?" They were only a couple feet apart.

"Yes," she told him, looking up at him a moment later.

"Yes," he said quietly. "And lives may be at stake."

She stood up straighter, "yours?"

"I honestly don't know," he said, watching her.

"Is this why you helped me the other night?" She asked, suddenly feeling exposed, "you were following me because you needed help?"

"No," he said without hesitation. "The other night was just good timing on my part." He glanced at her wrist. "Or...bad timing, I guess."

"Considering what they could have done to me, I'd say good timing," Chloe took a deep breath as she glanced down at her wrist as well then held her hand out to him for the device once more.

"You don't owe me anything," he said quietly, watching her.

"I know," she said just as quietly, pursing her lips together, her chest tight, "I want to help, but under one condition."

"What's the condition?"

"If he finds out, I don't want anyone coming to help me. I can handle him on my own." She told him, her voice just above a whisper, but firm and clear.

He was silent for a moment. "I can only promise I won't, if that's really what you want."

"You or others of your kind," she told him, eyes narrowing slightly.

"I have no control over what anyone else does," he said quietly. "Only what I do myself."

"Don't tell them about this, then," she said simply.

"You drive a hard bargain," he informed her.

"Do we have a deal or not?" She asked, eyes on whatever she could see of his face, which wasn't much at all.

"Yes," he said quietly. "But that doesn't mean I can't keep an eye on you when you're out alone after dark, right?"

Chloe shook her head a little, taking a deep breath, her heart beating fast against her chest, "no, but don't keep from helping other people because of me."

"I won't," he promised, then flashed her a grin. "You just happen to fall in the part of the city I take care of."

She smirked a little at that and reached for the flash drive once more, brushing her fingers against his on purpose, "lucky me."

He let her have the drive, smile widening even more. "I feel rather lucky myself."

"Let's hope I can give you reason to feel lucky," she told him, biting down on her bottom lip and eying the flash drive for a second, "how do I contact you?"

"Can we meet again? Somewhere secure? Tomorrow night?"

Chloe hesitated then nodded, glancing up at the building then back at him, "I assume you already know where I live?"

He smiled a bit at that. "Meet you on the roof? Midnight?"

She couldn't help but smirk at that and nodded, "see you then, Romeo." 

He smirked, as well. "Goodnight, fair Juliette," he said, firing an anchor line at the rooftop across the street and ascending away from her.

Chloe shook her head and smiled, turning to watch him as he disappeared into the darkness then taking a deep breath, her heart racing as she slid the flash drive inside her purse. She would have to be very careful with this. It was only a matter of time before Lex found out because there was no keeping secrets from him, but hopefully, she could give the vigilante something before that happened.

* * * 

Lex sat back in his seat, folding his hands over his desk as he heard her familiar footsteps heading down the corridor toward the study. When she entered, he smiled faintly, watching her intently. "Have a drink," he offered, nodding toward the bar.

She smiled back, even though her stomach was in knots, she wasn't letting it show. The fact that Lex had asked her to meet him in Smallville the very following morning was making her more than a little nervous since she'd spent the night hacking the files in the flash drive Green Arrow had handed her, but she knew how to keep things from Lex by now, she just had to act natural. "Would you like one?" She offered, smiling as she started toward the bar.

"Of course." He nodded a little, keeping his eyes on her.

Chloe poured then their drinks, her posture as relaxed as it could be as she picked up both glasses and started toward his desk, handing him one of the glasses before taking her seat.

He smiled, taking a sip of the brandy and setting the glass down on his desk. "How are things going on the Oliver Queen front?" he asked curiously.

She arched an eyebrow at that and sipped on her drink before responding, "slow," she admitted, "I haven't seen him since the fundraiser."

Lex watched her closely. "You heard he's in Kansas for a length of time?"

"Of course," she lied, she hadn't really been bothering with keeping tabs on Oliver since the fundraiser.

"Perhaps your golden opportunity is dangling right in front of you," he suggested.

Chloe smirked a little at that and arched her eyebrows, "you don't really think he would welcome me into his home, do you, Lex?"

"Maybe you should welcome him into yours," Lex offered with a faint smirk of his own.

She pursed her lips together, pretending to be taking this into consideration. The last thing she wanted was to have to deal with Oliver, but she had been stupid enough to tell Lex about her project and now he was obviously expecting results. "I suppose I could send him an invitation."

"Excellent." Lex smiled and took a drink of his brandy. "Oliver's always had a bit of a thing for blonds."

"Has he?" Chloe asked, arching an eyebrow. Lex didn't know she'd slept with Oliver already and the fact that he was suggesting she did just that in not so many words angered her, but she didn't say anything. "I suppose I'm in luck."

Nodding, he leaned back in his chair, sipping his drink. "You should come by the mansion more often, Chloe."

"We can meet in Metropolis just as easily, Lex," she told him, looking down at her glass, "you know I rather avoid Smallville altogether if I can."

He was silent for a moment. "Of course," he said finally, nodding.

"But I make certain sacrifices for you," she told him, smiling, "driving in on a semi-regular basis is one of them."

Lex smiled, nodding. "I know you do. And it's appreciated."

"That makes it worth it." She told him, sipping on her drink again and smiling at him over her glass, "is there anything else you'd like to discuss?"

"No, unless there's something you want to discuss with me." He watched her closely.

"Nothing I can think of," she said easily, "unfortunately, I don't have any news to report as far as Oliver goes and everything remains the same with all my other projects."

"All right. We'll meet again once you have more of a... _handle_ on the Oliver Queen situation." He smirked.

Chloe cocked her head at him, "I may be willing to do a lot to take him down, Lex, but don't think I will sleep with him just because you are insinuating I should."

"Of course not," he agreed immediately, watching her. "I would never _ask_ you to do such a thing."

"As long as we're clear," she told him, looking down at her glass and finishing up her drink, "I should get back, I'm afraid to leave my new assistant by himself for too long. He might try to make himself useful."

"Well, we can't have that," Lex responded with some amusement. "As always, it's good to see you."

"Good to see you too, Lex." Chloe smiled before standing up and starting out of the study.

Lex watched her go, his smile fading as she vanished from sight. 

She was going to be a problem.


	10. Chapter 10

  


Chloe had paced the length of the rooftop more times than she could count in the ten minutes she'd been there. It was a little before midnight still, but she didn't want to take any risks.

It had been a long day, after her drive back from Smallville, she had worked in her office for a couple of hours then told Thomas to go home early and did the same. To do more work. She had created a completely new, secured network for herself, one that Lex hopefully hadn't found yet, before working on the flash drive. She recognized the security settings of the documents instantly as they all belonged to LuthorCorp. Hacking them would take time, but her computer was working on it even now while she was meeting with the mysterious archer.

She had also emailed Oliver Queen late in the afternoon, not wanting to get a reply soon and have him want to make plans for tonight. She told him they should talk but wasn't specific on what, and told him he should let her know when he was available to come by. She wasn't looking forward to _that_ particular reunion.

Chloe was, however, looking forward to tonight's meeting. Even if she didn't really have anything to give him, she wanted to see him, maybe find out more about him. He intrigued her in a way no one had in a very long time. Since Clark. Except he seemed to trust her, unlike her former best friend, and even if he was using her to take Lex down, she'd been used for worse purposes before.

Oliver landed on the rooftop fifteen minutes after midnight, hoping that Chloe hadn't given up on him showing up. When he rose to his feet and looked up, she was standing several feet away. "Sorry I'm late," he said, sincere in the apology.

Chloe blinked, her back had been to him when he landed so she turned quickly and turned around to look at him, "I thought you weren't coming anymore." She told him.

"I got caught up a few blocks away," he told her with a small smile.

"I figured you had found some damsel in distress on your way," she told him, arching her eyebrows.

He shook his head a little. "Carjacking, male victim with a couple toddlers."

Her eyes widened at that as she took a few more steps toward him, "are they okay?"

"They're fine. And the guys are on their way to a holding cell courtesy of the Metropolis Police Department," he assured her, watching her.

She nodded slightly and smiled a little, "I guess you're good at what you do."

"I try," he said quietly. "Sometimes it doesn't seem like it's enough." 

"It's more than what most people do," she pointed out, watching him then frowning when she saw blood all over his arm, "you're bleeding."

Oliver looked down instinctively, then made a face. "Guess I'll have to send this thing to the dry cleaners again soon," he joked, shrugging it off and looking back at her.

"Are you okay?" She frowned more, looking down at his arm, "we can go downstairs if you want to, clean that up."

"I'm all right," he told her, smiling faintly. "Doesn't even hurt."

Chloe eyed his arm for a moment longer then took a deep breath and nodded, straightening a little, "I don't have anything for you yet."

He wasn't terribly surprised by that. "I wondered if one day would be enough time to get past all the encryptions," he admitted.

"It's not," she admitted then took a deep breath, "LuthorCorp's security is heavy, but I have the software to take it down, it just might take a couple more days before I can access the files."

He was silent for a moment, nodding a little. "Maybe I just wanted to see you again," he said quietly.

She paused and arched her eyebrows at that, cocking her head, "you did?"

He couldn't help but smile, shrugging a little.

"Do you always have ulterior motives like this?" She asked, her chest tightening a little as her instincts started to scream at her to walk away.

"It's not an ulterior motive," he told her carefully, watching her. "I just think you're a force to be reckoned with."

"How much research did you do on me?" Chloe asked, arching her eyebrows and staring up at him, where his face would be.

"Nothing I'll ever use against you. Promise." He held his hands up, palms toward her. "But you did whip out a gun on one of the muggers the other night. It wasn't a unrealistic leap."

"Still wouldn't have managed without your help," she said, shrugging slightly.

"You're not giving yourself enough credit," he told her, then paused. "Are you trained?"

"No," she admitted, "but I know enough to get by."

"You should consider some self-defense. Maybe a mixed martial arts program," he told her. "Never know when you might need it."

Chloe smirked a little at that and arched an eyebrow, "I don't suppose you offer classes?"

Oliver paused at that, raising his own eyebrows behind his dark glasses. "Not something I've considered before."

"But you're willing to consider now?" She asked, biting down on her bottom lip, her heart beating fast against her chest.

They were treading on very dangerous ground, but he couldn't help himself. "You'd really want me to?" 

"If you're available," she said quietly, wishing she could see more of him to read him.

A very faint smile touched his mouth. "Then I'll consider it," he told her just as quietly.

Chloe nodded a little then paused, "even if you are comfortable with me finding out who you are, I don't ever want to be seen with you, or associated with you." She added, her voice serious and firm once more.

His chest tightened a little. "It wouldn't be safe," he agreed quietly.

"No, it wouldn't be," she told him, taking a deep breath. The fact that he agreed made her a little more comfortable with this.

"We'll always have rooftops?" he said, his voice lighter despite how he felt.

Her chest tightened at that and she nodded a little, "something like that."

He smiled faintly. "I should probably let you get out of here," he said quietly.

"When should I expect you again?" She asked quietly, looking at him once more.

Oliver moved a little closer to her, holding out a small phone. "It's a disposable phone. Call me when you're ready to meet again. I'm the first emergency number listed."

Chloe blinked a couple of times and looked down at it then nodded, taking the phone, her heart skipping a beat when their fingers brushed once more, "and I assume you can contact me through it too?"

"I'm the only one who has the number," he told her quietly, his heart beating more quickly, as well.

"I'll have it on when I'm available," she told him, not wanting to risk the phone ringing when Lex was around.

"All right," he agreed. "Be careful." He backed up toward the edge of the roof.

"Wait," Chloe said, taking a step toward him.

Oliver paused. "What is it?"

"What should I call you?" She asked. She knew his codename was Green Arrow, but she felt silly calling him that.

He cocked his head to the side. "What would you feel comfortable calling me?"

She shrugged a little, "whatever you prefer," she told him, "Arrow? Mr. Green?"

A smile tugged at his mouth at the latter suggestion. "Let's stick with Arrow," he told her.

"Okay," she nodded, smirking a little, "take care, Arrow."

He grinned. "You too," he told her with a nod. "See you soon." Lifting his hand in a wave, he took a running leap onto the next rooftop.

Chloe sighed deeply as he jumped off and smiled softly. Maybe she could do something good still and if she was careful enough he wouldn't have to pay the price.

* * *

Oliver was more than a little surprised when he checked his email the next morning and found an email from none other than Chloe Sullivan. He raised his eyebrows as he read and then reread the email twice more. It was simple, brief. It said that she would like to talk to him, and to give her a call or email her when he had some time.

And since the day was Saturday, and he didn't have to go into the office, he figured he might as well see what she wanted. He picked up his cell phone and dialed the number she'd given him, waiting. He hadn't talked to her _as_ Oliver Queen since the fundraiser at the Luthor mansion nearly two months before. He'd been biding his time on that front--first because if he attempted to get in touch with her too soon afterwards, she'd be suspicious, and secondly because he didn't think he had much chance to get through to her as himself at all.

When she saw his number pop up on her caller ID, Chloe sighed deeply. She didn't want to talk to him, let alone see him and imply sex, but she knew Lex was watching her and she knew he would know if she was making an effort or not and if she wasn't, he would want to know why, so she pulled away from the laptop, where she was still working on crackiing the code for the files encrypted on the flash drive Arrow had given her and picked up her phone, "Chloe Sullivan."

"I have to say I wasn't expecting your email," he told her.

Chloe was quiet for a moment then shrugged a shoulder, "I felt like it."

Oliver was silent. "Are you going to clue me in as to why?"

"Well," she was glad she had made this all up in her head earlier so she wouldn't have to worry about it now, "our last meeting wasn't exactly... friendly. I was wondering if you'd like to come over for a glass of wine," she told him, "maybe dinner, if you're interested."

She was up to something. Then again, she had no idea that he was the very same guy she'd spent chatting with on the rooftop of her apartment building either, so it wasn't like he was being honest. "When?" he asked simply, unable to contain his own curiosity.

Chloe glanced at the computer once more, she wasn't going to be able to crack everything by tonight, so there was no point calling Green Arrow to meet with her, but she might have something for him tomorrow night, so it was probably better to get this over with, "tonight, if you're available."

"I'll check my schedule," he told her, trying not to smirk.

She had to take a deep breath not to say something snappy and snarky at him, it was hard, but she managed, "do that, let me know."

"Sure. I'll email you and let you know."

"Okay," she said, her jaw clenching, "I'll see you later."

"See you." He hung up the phone, leaning back in his chair.

Chloe made sure the fall had been disconnected and groaned, rolling her eyes, she could hear the superiority in his voice and it made her want to see him even less.


	11. Chapter 11

  


Oliver made his way up to Chloe's apartment later that night, not really sure what to expect. He truly believed--with every instinct he had-- that she was truly trying to help his alter ego. But he also believed that she truly _hated_ him. Which left him as unsure as how to proceed with her as himself. He rubbed a hand over his face as he made his way to the door and stood there for a long moment. He forced himself to take a deep breath before he knocked softly on her door and waited.

Chloe glanced at the clock when she heard the knock and took a deep breath. Seven sharp. Not a minute early, not a minute late. She sighed and looked down at her dress. She had dressed up in a deep green dress Lex had given her a couple of months ago, it wasn't too dressy but it clung to her body a little more than she was comfortable with, which meant it was the right amount most guys would approve of.

She walked over to the door and opened it, the same well-practiced pleasant smile on her lips as she did, "glad you could make it."

Oliver started to respond when he caught sight of the dress she was wearing. His eyes widened ever-so-slightly and all the rational thought left his mind. "Uh. Hi."

The smirk that crawled on her lips this time was real. At least it looked like she was right about picking that dress, "hi," she told him, stepping aside, "come in."

He hesitated a moment, then held out a bouquet of orange tulips. "I got these for you." His voice was quiet.

Her confidence started to slip almost instantly. She reached for the flowers, silently wondering how he could possibly know they were her favorite kind and her favorite color on top of it. "Thank you," she said, looking down at them then straightening herself to pull herself together, "dinner should be here in about half an hour, I ordered Italian, I hope that's okay with you."

"Italian's fine," he agreed, nodding a little and stepping inside, glancing around. "Nice place." His voice remained quiet.

"Thank you," she told him, closing the door before walking past him and toward the kitchen, "I'll put this in water, would you like something to drink?"

Oliver sucked in a breath at the sight of the bare skin of her back. "Uh, yeah, water'd be good."

"Just water?" She said, picking up a vase and placing the flowers in it with some water, "I have pinot noir and cabernet if you like reds, and I think I have pinot grigio too if you prefer white."

He lifted a hand to his face, rubbing his hand over his cheek. "Water's good," he said again. He had a feeling he was going to need all his wits about him.

Chloe nodded and picked up a glass, "ice?" She asked pleasantly, as long as he had that deer in the headlights expression on his face, she could do this.

"Yes, please," he said, watching her as she moved around the small kitchen.

She placed the glass on the fridge door and filled it with ice and water before walking up to him and smiling slowly as she hands him the glass, "here you go."

"Thank you," he murmured, their fingers brushing as she handed him the glass.

And there was that _something_ again, the something that made her stomach tight every time he touched her. "We can move over to the living room, I already have a glass."

"All right." He swallowed hard, pulling his hand away from hers. He took a quick drink and followed her into the living room silently.

Chloe picked up her glass from the coffee table and sat down on the leather couch, crossing her legs as she did, "thank you for coming, Oliver."

He watched her silently, then sat down beside her after a moment. "Why did you invite me?" he asked quietly.

"Because I don't like how we left things," she told him, eyes on him as she sipped on her wine slowly.

Oliver studied her for a moment, then looked down at the glass in his hand. "No. I don't either," he admitted.

She hated to hear the sincerity in his voice, but she had been preparing herself for this, she could do this, "I thought we should do something about it."

"I'm listening," he said softly, glancing at her sideways.

Chloe took a deep breath and shook her head a little, "I'm not sure what to do," she told him, "part of New Years Eve was fun?" She tried.

"You're not that kind of woman." He raised his eyebrows and looked over at her.

She arched an eyebrow at that, "you know me about as well as I know you, Oliver, which, according to you, isn't all that well. How can you assume you know what kind of woman I am?"

"I have good instincts," he told her, watching her carefully.

"Alright," she said patiently, shifting on her seat and turning toward him, "what kind of a woman do you think I am?" She was glad she was already on her third glass, which was helping her relax and not to want to throttle him with his pointless assumptions.

"One with a good heart," he said softly. "Who wants to do the right thing." He shook his head a little. "Not the kind who wants to sleep with someone like _me_."

Chloe smirked slowly and shook her head, sipping on her wine before taking a deep breath, "I hate to tell you, but your instincts are completely wrong."

He sighed softly and took a drink of his water. "Am I?"

"Yes," she told him, placing her glass down, "if I wanted to do the right thing, I wouldn't be in the business I am," she told him then smirked, "and perhaps I have never done something like New Years before, but I can assure you, I enjoyed it and I would not be opposed to repeating it."

Oliver rubbed his hand over his face. "Chloe, you're a beautiful woman." His voice was quiet and he didn't smile when he looked at her. "If you're looking to hook up with someone, I'm sure you can find someone pretty damn easily. So why the hell pick _me_?"

"I found you," she told him, "besides, I'm fairly sure you're not using me for anything." That much, she was honest about.

He gazed at her intently for a long moment, then set his water glass down on the coffee table.

Chloe arched an eyebrow and watched him closely but remained silent.

"You don't even like me," he said, shaking his head.

"I thought that wasn't a requirement for no strings relationships," she pointed out, "and at least you're not nearly as slimy as some of the other guys I could potentially pick from."

He managed a faint, wry smile at that. "Gee, thanks."

"You're welcome," she smirked.

He sighed softly, reaching out and touching her cheek lightly. "You could do better," he whispered.

"So could you," she told him, this time she was also sincere. Now that he was there, she felt like she was much more willing to go through with this than before. He had been a jerk when she was being a total bitch and although the tenderness still scared her, at least he knew what he was getting into.

"Maybe we're both masochists," he teased lightly, searching her eyes.

"Maybe we don't think we do deserve anything else," she told him, staring back at him, this time her eyes a little more distant than before. No matter how much flirting she did with Green Arrow, she knew she didn't deserve someone as good as him, she would only be selfish to risk exposing him to Lex if he got any closer and someone who did so much didn't deserve to be dragged down with her.

"Maybe," he murmured, rubbing his thumb lightly over her cheek and then dipping his head to kiss her softly.

Chloe kissed him back, reaching a hand to his arm as she sat up a little.

He slid his other hand up and into her hair as he slowly deepened the kiss, his eyes drifting shut.

Her stomach tightened at his light touch and she shifted closer to him as the kiss deepened, her heart beating fast against her chest.

Oliver brushed his nose lightly over hers as the kiss ended so they could both breathe. "I uh...I didn't bring protection with me," he admitted quietly. He hadn't intended on sleeping with her when he showed up on her doorstep.

"I have some," she told him, taking a deep breath as she looked up at him, part of her wanted to just rip his clothes off and get on with this, but a small part of her, which she was trying to ignore wanted to take her time with him.

"Oh," he said, nodding a little. He pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth.

Chloe closed her eyes then turned her head slightly, pressing her lips to his once more, lightly at first then a little harder.

He responded to her actions, capturing her lips with his again.

She reached for his shirt and started undoing the buttons in her, her fingertips brushing against his skin as she opened it slowly.

As soon as the shirt was all the way unbuttoned, Oliver shrugged out of it, sliding his hand down her spine to rest against the small of her back.

Chloe shivered slightly and ran her hands up his bare stomach, chest and shoulders before sliding them down his arms, squeezing his muscles lightly under her hands.

Oliver groaned softly at the feel of her hands against his bare skin. "Are you sure?" he murmured against her ear, nuzzling his nose against her neck and kissing her jaw softly as his fingers played lightly with the zipper on the back of her dress.

"Yes," she whispered, shivering again as she ran her tongue over his jaw, the more he touched her, the more her body was reminded how good his touch felt and the more she wanted him.

He eased the zipper down slowly, his fingers dancing lightly across her skin as he pressed a kiss to her shoulder. "I have a confession to make," he murmured.

"What?" She asked, running her nails lightly over his back.

"I haven't been with anyone since you," he told her, shuddering a little at the feel of her nails against his skin.

"Neither have I," she told him, closing her eyes tightly as she pressed her lips against his neck, trying to ignore the meaning behind what he was saying.

Oliver swallowed hard, dipping his head and kissing her collarbone lightly, slowly sliding one of the sleeves of her dress down and off her arm. "You are so beautiful."

Chloe took a deep breath, dropping her arms slightly for him to slide it down more easily as she held onto his upper arms, pressing her palms against his skin.

He smiled faintly as he gazed down at her, kissing her shoulder and smirking a little as he peeled the sleeve off the rest of the way with his teeth.

She shivered as his mouth brushed against her skin, opening her eyes to look down at him, her eyes already darker.

Oliver lifted his head to look at her once more, his own eyes dark as they met hers. He rested his hands lightly on her hips as he gazed at her intently, taking in the sight of her half-naked body.

Chloe looked at him and took a deep breath, licking her lips slow and smirking softly as she looked at him.

He lifted one of his hands to cup her breast, gently rubbing his thumb over her nipple. He licked his own lips, unable to take his eyes off her, shifting beneath her so he was stretched out on the sofa.

She moaned at his touch, closing her eyes a little before opening them again as she leaned forward over him, holding his gaze for a moment before glancing down at his body. She was lowering her mouth to his chest when something caught the corner of her eye and she stilled completely.

"Chloe?" His eyebrows furrowed a little as she froze. "Are you all right?"

Her jaw clenched instantly and she pulled away from him, her eyes on his arm, on the cuts on his upper arm, in the exact same place, "where did you get that?" She asked tightly.

Oliver looked down at his arm, his stomach tightening. _Shit_. "From my cat," he said with a shrug, raising an eyebrow at her. "What's wrong?"

"Bullshit." She told him, pulling her dress over her shoulders once more as she stood up and stared down at him, her eyes wide.

He swallowed hard, realizing just how badly he'd screwed this up. Sitting up slowly, he rubbed a hand over his face. "Chloe--"

Her heart was beating so fast against her chest, she could feel it. She had to take a few deep, calming breaths, but she didn't take her eyes off of him, her jaw tight as she stared at him, "you are him." She said finally. It wasn't a question.

Oliver picked up his shirt and began to button it quickly, trying to figure out what to say. "Yes," he said finally, his voice quiet.

She smirked humorlessly, her eyes cold but teary as she stared down at him, "and I thought you weren't using me," she said, shaking her head as her smirk widened for a second before disappearing, "get out."

"No," he whispered, shaking his head. "I want to explain it to you, Chloe. Everything. All of it."

"It may not seem like it, Oliver," she said tightly, walking over to the small table by the door where her purse was, "but I'm smart enough to get this." She pulled out the phone Green Arrow had given her and turned to face him again, her stomach clenched, her hands shaking with anger, "you want me to hand you information on Lex and what better way to get me to trust you through _him_ , right?" She spat before throwing the phone in his direction, hard, " _get out_!"

The phone connected hard with his shoulder, but he barely flinched, moving closer to her. "So you know that your employer has been kidnapping and experimenting on meteor-infected people from Smallville?" he demanded. "On people with abilities of any kind that he can find? I don't need any information on Lex Luthor. I already know everything about him that I need to," he informed her intently, staring at her. "I know that he's a monster. That he ruins everything he touches. The mission was never about trying to get more information on _Lex_."

"Then what the hell do you need me for?" She demanded, her voice cracking.

Oliver's chest tightened at the crack in her voice. "I just needed you to see for yourself what kind of man you're working for, and I was hoping it would be enough to convince you to get the hell away from him."

Her eyes narrowed at him and she stepped forward, closer to him, "why would I _possibly_ want to get away from him? With Lex, I have everything I could hope for."

"Apparently you don't," he responded, his own eyes narrowed. "Or you wouldn't have jumped at the chance to help Green Arrow take him down." His jaw tightened a little. "And you sure as hell wouldn't feel like you had to prove anything to _me_."

"I had no intentions of actually helping him," she lied through clenched teeth, "do you really think I can't get past any LuthorCorp security in more than a couple of minutes," she smirked, her expression distant, cold, "I wanted to learn more about him, hand him to Lex, improve my image."

"Keep telling yourself that, Chloe," he murmured, his mouth close to her ear. "Maybe one day you'll actually buy this cold heartless bitch routine, but I don't." He headed for the door. "You asked me that night. Why I did this. Why I put on a costume and went around helping people. I wasn't entirely honest with you." He turned to face her. "I put that uniform on because I want my parents to be proud of me." His jaw tightened. "I wonder how your father feels about you working for Lex."

She stared at him for a moment, her eyes tearing up even more, her chest clenched painfully as she stared at him, "don't you _dare_ talk about him," she said, her voice low as she tried her best to control herself, "you know _nothing_ about him." She told him, her voice breaking once more as a couple of tears ran down her face.

His chest tightened painfully. "No. But you do. You really think he'd be happy to know that you're working for the son of the man who killed him and who's turning out to be just as evil as he was?" His jaw tightened a little and he shook his head, turning for the door once again.

"Fuck you," she said angrily, "I don't need your help, I don't need _anything_ from you no matter which outfit you're wearing," she started after him, "you may be used to damsels in distress, Oliver, but like I told you before, I'm not like the women you're used to."

He turned to face her once more, his eyes dark and intense. "No, you're not," he agreed. "You think I don't get it, Chloe, but I do," he informed her. "The same man who murdered _your_ father, murdered both of my parents. You think I didn't push people away? Do you think I wasn't angry? Lost?" He took a step closer to her. "I get it. The truth is that you and I have more in common than you and Lex _ever_ will, and you can hate me all you want for that, but it doesn't change the fact that one of us is actually making a difference in the world while the other helps the man who wants to make it worse!"

"Lex saved my life," she told him tightly, "he helped me when no one else would, all I have today is thanks to _him_ ," those were the lines she had told Lex and other people over and over and even if she knew what Lex was now capable of, she had to keep telling the same lies to keep him from harming people she cared about, "he's not his father and if you are going to blame him for what Lionel did, you're no better than what you say Lex is."

Oliver actually laughed at that. "I don't hold Lex responsible for killing my parents. I hold him responsible for a gross violation of human rights on one hell of a lot of people, Chloe. Do you even believe the bullshit you spew? You _have_ a family. Family that loves you, that would welcome you back with open arms, who would have done that from the damn beginning but you were too scared to let her. So instead you ran to _Lex_. That's fine. It's your life. If you want to throw it down the drain, I can't stop you. But I will stop him. One way or another." He glared at her for a moment longer. "I just hope you come to your senses before it's too late." He turned and stormed out the door, slamming it shut behind him without giving her a chance to respond.

Chloe watched him go, her entire body shaking, she thought it was with anger at first, but then she realized she was crying as a loud sob escaped her. She covered her mouth quickly and stared at the closed door as she wrapped her other arm around herself, her head spinning. It was too much to take in, she could barely make sense of everything that had happened since she found out who Oliver really was.

He was her hero, her one hope and now he was gone too.


	12. Chapter 12

Lois hurried into Queen Industries the following morning. When she got the call from Oliver asking how soon she could meet, she heard it in his voice that something wasn't right. She may not know him all that well, but she had gotten really good at reading people and their tones, she had to to deal with Clark, so she didn't hesitate before grabbing her purse and flying out of the Planet to meet with the man as quickly as possible.

As she reached the top floor, she rushed out of the elevator, flashing her Planet ID at the woman she assumed was Oliver's assistant as she walked right past her desk, "Lois Lane, Daily Planet, he's waiting for me," she said quickly as she reached for the handle of the only door on the floor and walked right into Oliver's office, her eyes wide.

"What happened?" She asked breathlessly.

He looked up at her and blew out a breath, rising to his feet and rubbing his hands over his face. "She knows."

Lois closed the door behind her and frowned, "she knows... what?"

"About me." His voice was quiet.

"About your night job?" She asked, eyes widening, "what about it?"

"She knows that Oliver Queen and Green Arrow are one and the same," he told her, not quite meeting her eyes. "And she was less than thrilled."

"How did she find out?" Lois asked, shaking her head as she stepped forward.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then rolled his sleeve up, revealing the cuts on his upper arm.

Lois stared at his arm for a moment, puzzled, then frowning, shook her head a little, "she saw you get hurt?"

"She saw Green Arrow's injuries a couple nights ago. And last night when I went over for dinner, she saw them, and put two and two together." He was still cursing himself over his reckless stupidity.

"What did she say? Did she just kick you out?"

"After she screamed at me, and threw the disposable cellular phone at me, yeah." Wearily, he sat down on the edge of his desk. "I'm sorry, Lois."

She blinked at that, "what, are you giving up?"

He glanced up at her. "She _hates_ my guts."

Lois stared at him for a moment then pursed her lips, considering, "think I should talk to her?"

"I don't know," he said quietly, shaking his head. "She was pretty furious last night."

"Well you were lying to her face as two different people, of course she's furious, especially if she trusted your alter ego. But it also means she cares in some way at least."

He looked down at the floor. "Unless I blew that apart too."

"Yeah but at least she trusted you and that's something," Lois said, determined, "you need to earn her trust back."

"How?" he asked quietly, glancing up at her once more.

"Don't give up on her," Lois said firmly, "if you managed to get through her once, you should be able to do it again, she was willing to help you, right?"

He gazed at her for a moment, then nodded slowly. He didn't believe for a second that she'd been planning to turn him over to Lex, no matter how much she tried to tell him otherwise. "Yes."

"Then tell her you need her help," Lois said, her voice lowering as she thought about it, "I know her, she's not going to be able to turn you down."

Oliver rubbed his hand over his face, nodding a little. "Help with finding out what Lex is hiding in the LuthorCorp towers." His voice was quiet.

She nodded a little, "if she still cares enough to help Green Arrow, she'll do it," Lois said confidently.

"Maybe," he murmured, rising to his feet.

"Is there anything I can do?" Lois asked, "we can come up with a plan or something."

He drew in a breath and shook his head a little. "I just need to figure out a way to get through to her without pissing her off."

"Look, Chloe never really dealt too well with emotional stuff, not her own emotions anyway, if she's getting defensive, it probably means you're hitting a nerve."

Oliver watched her carefully, nodding a little. "So how do I work around that, then?"

Lois took a deep, "either you let it go and let her think she's in control and let her feel safe," she told him then her eyes narrowed slightly, "or sometimes with her you just have to keep going until she breaks and then you pick up the pieces."

He swallowed hard at that, drawing in a breath and letting it out slowly. "Right," he murmured.

"It's the only thing I can think of." She told him, "although considering how long she'd been bottling it everything..."

"So you think the latter is the way to go?"

"I don't know," Lois admitted then shrugged a little, "I haven't seen her in so long."

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Then wish me good luck. Because I have a feeling I'm going to need it."

"I wish I could help you more," she said sincerely, "but it looks like you're making a bigger difference than I managed."

He winced a little at that. "Sometimes it's easier to unload on a stranger...or someone you despise."

"You really think she hates you?" Lois asked, smirking a little, "if she did, she wouldn't care."

"I think when she found out _I_ was Green Arrow, she was more than a little disappointed," he told her.

"But you were lying to her, we have big issues with being lied to," she told him, arching an eyebrow.

"I know," he said quietly. "Most people do."

"Thanks for not giving up on her yet," she told him sincerely.

"I'm not sure I could even if I wanted to," Oliver said just as sincerely.

She raised her eyebrows curiously at that.

He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling awkward all of the sudden. "I like her," he admitted quietly.

Lois smirked knowingly and nodded, "I knew it."

Oliver blinked and raised his eyebrows at her. "How?"

She shrugged, "just did," she told him, "I'm awesome at reading people."

He shook his head a little. "All right. Well, I'll try and figure out a way to get through to her--hopefully without having anything heavy flung at my head this time."

"If she's going for physical violence, you really got a rise out of her," she told him, surprised, "maybe she's cracking already."

He paused at that. "Maybe."

"You'll figure it out," she assured him with a nod.

Oliver smiled faintly.

He just hoped she was right.

* * *

Chloe didn't go into her office the following day, she didn't feel like it and she wasn't in the mood to put up with Thomas or anyone else. She hadn't slept at all the previous night, she'd kept herself busy by hacking into the flash drive and she had managed. She had opened and read almost every single document, or better yet, study in it and apparently Oliver hadn't been lying.

Lex was conducting horrible experiments on the meteor infected, a lot of them people she knew from Smallville, classmates, people who had worked at the grocery store and at the Talon. Her stomach had been unsettled since Oliver walked out, but it was getting worse and worse the more she read. She'd always known Lex was up to something bad, she didn't know it was this bad.

She hadn't even realized it was morning already, but when she heard a noise in her apartment, she stilled completely, only one other person could walk in without breaking in and considering she hadn't showed up in her office, she wouldn't be surprised that it would be him, she had never missed a single day in four years after all.

Swallowing hard, she closed her laptop and reached under her bed, pushing it there before pulling the covers tightly around herself and closing her eyes. The last thing she wanted was for him to know she hadn't gone in because she was researching on _him_.

"Chloe?" Lex's voice was filled with well-feigned concern as he made his way down the hallway. "Are you all right?"

She took a deep breath as she shifted on the bed, putting on a show and pretending she was just waking up even though she knew he wasn't in her room. Yet. "Lex?" She called, injecting as much confusion in her voice as she could.

He knocked lightly on her door and then peaked his head inside. "Are you all right?" His eyebrows furrowed.

Chloe pushed herself up slowly, rubbing her face and nodding, "yeah," she lied, making her voice as thick as she could, "what happened?"

He studied her intently. "Are you feeling unwell? It's nearly noon. Thomas alerted me that you hadn't been into the office this morning and I grew concerned." He moved over to her bed and sat down on the edge of it, holding a manila envelope in his hand.

She blinked a couple of times and reached for the lamp on her bedside table then shook her head, "I didn't mean to sleep in," she lied again, looking at the envelope and not having to feign her puzzlement this time, "I had a bad stomach ache and I didn't really get much sleep during the night, I must have turned off my alarm."

Lex frowned at that. "Should I call a doctor in for you?"

Chloe shook her head a little and took a deep breath, "it's probably just something I ate, there is no reason to worry about it right now."

"All right." He watched her for a moment. "Well, I'll wait until you're feeling better." He nodded toward the envelope in his hand and then rose to his feet.

She shook her head again then frowned, "if you came all the way here, it must be important, what is it?"

"Well, it's just something I came across this morning," he told her. "About Oliver Queen." He arched an eyebrow at her and handed it over. "I thought you might find it particularly interesting."

Her stomach clenched even more and she was sure if this was bad, she was going to be sick. Chloe took the envelope, staring at Lex for a moment before opening it, then pulling the documents, or better yet, pictures out. Her jaw clenched when she recognized the back of the woman photographed instantly, "Lois?"

"Apparently your cousin has been meeting with Oliver on a fairly regular basis," he informed her, nodding toward another picture--this one of the two of them at a table in the Talon.

She _was_ going to be sick, but first she had to get rid of him, "I'm not surprised," she told him, "I had a brief meeting with Oliver last night and it seems he was using me as means to get to you."

Lex studied her for a moment. "Well, that's unfortunate for him. Because I know _you_ of all people would never betray me." He smiled at her.

"Of course not," she said, the lie just rolling off her tongue easily as she placed the envelope and pictures over her bedside table, "don't worry, he's not getting any closer through me."

He nodded. "All right. Well, I just thought you'd like to know." He smiled faintly and rose to his feet. "You should take the rest of the day off. Get some rest. I hope you get feeling better soon." He headed for the door.

"Thank you," she told him, taking a deep breath and leaning against her pillows, "I think I will, but I'll regroup and come up with something else for him as soon as possible."

"Excellent." He smiled a bit more at that. "I'll see you later, Chloe." He left her room, smirking as he made his way down the hall and out the front door.

Chloe sighed deeply and reached for the light, turning it off once more and closing her eyes, regrouping sounded easier said than done.


	13. Chapter 13

  


He was in Green Arrow gear when he made his way to Chloe's apartment that night, shortly after the sun went down. And he landed on the rooftop across the street just in time to see her leaving. He sighed softly as he watched her walking down the sidewalk, away from her building. The woman was a magnet for trouble-- _in more ways than one,_ he thought idly--and she insisted on walking everywhere after dark. He wondered if she intentionally put herself in danger, or if some part of her figured he'd be watching her.

Rubbing a hand over his face, he leapt from rooftop to rooftop silently as she walked, and he was more than a little surprised to see her heading right toward the front door of LuthorCorp. His eyebrows furrowed a little as he sat perched on the rooftop across the street from the building, his heart beating quickly in his chest.

The fact that no one had shown up to confront him about his double identity that day only served to confirm his belief--that she wasn't going to turn him over to Lex. Or anyone else for that matter.

He hunched down, watching as she used her security card and made her way inside the otherwise-dark and empty office building.

 _What_ , he wondered, frowning, _is she up to now_?

Chloe didn't want to seem suspicious as she made her way into LuthorCorp, she knew Lex was going to be busy with an event tonight, one she hadn't been invited to and she knew this was her one chance.

She had spent the past few days figuring out as much as she could about his research and she figured she had a pretty good idea where to find the prisoners he'd been experimenting on.

When her dad was alive he had told her so-called tales about the existence of a level 3 in the Smallville plant, and that had turned out to be the truth. She had gone back and researched the plants for all LuthorCorp facilities in the surrounding areas and the documentation for the installation for the LuthorCorp towers elevators caught her eye. Fifty-two floors, one more than it had in reality.

Chloe glanced around to make sure no one was following her then got into the elevator, she used the emergency key, a copy of Lex's, and then started to try all the numbers that had a three in them, looking for hidden buttons on the panel.

Nothing happened. Nothing that is until she got to thirty-three. Right next to the button, when she pressed the panel, a new button lit up and in it, it was written 33.1.

Her heart was racing as the elevator car started to move, she knew she had found something, something big, and she was about to find out exactly what it was.

Within moments, Oliver confirmed with Victor that the alarm system was down and he made his way into the building and up the staircase, taking the steps two at a time until he paused on the thirty-third floor. He drew in a breath and pulled the door open and made his way down the darkened corridor.

Chloe walked down the corridor slowly, cell after cell, every time she recognized a name, it made things worse. She couldn't believe she had been so blind to all this for so long. She couldn't believe he was doing this to people she _knew_ , right under her nose. And she had no idea how to even begin to stop him, she was going to have to do it alone because Lex was probably going to kill her when he found out, literally, and she couldn't risk anyone else's life.

"What are you doing?" His voice was distorted as he stood at the end of the corridor from where she was.

She stilled completely, her eyes wide as she turned around, heart beating fast against her chest, "get out of here."

"Not without you," he informed her, shaking his head and moving toward her slowly.

"If he catches you here, he will kill you," she told him, her jaw clenching, "get out."

"And what do you think he'll do to _you_?" he retorted, glancing to the side and pausing, falling silent.

"Do you see what this is?" She asked, her jaw clenched, "if you want me to put an end to it, get out _now_. Let me handle it."

"Chloe." His voice was so hushed that even the distorter didn't pick it up. He stared at the nameplate on the door, his face drained of color.

Her eyes narrowed at it and she hesitated for a second, then started over to where he was, her stomach tight as she followed his gaze to the nameplate, stilling completely when she saw the name.

Oliver's heart was beating quickly in his chest as he stared in the window at the woman inside the room, lying motionless in the bed.

Chloe's eyes started to tear up instantly as she stepped forward, reaching a hand to the window and staring inside, "Mom," she whispered, not even aware she had spoken the word out loud. Her head was spinning as she tried to make sense that somehow, the woman who she hadn't seen in so many years had ended up there, as one of Lex's experiments.

His chest tightened at her whisper and he reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Get out of here." He reached into his utility belt and produced a set of keys. "My apartment's at the top of the clock tower. I'll be there soon."

"I'm not leaving her," she said, jerking away from him as she shrugged off her coat and wrapped it around her hand, ready to punch a hole through the glass of the cell her mother was in.

"Chloe, _look_ at me." He reached out and set both of his hands on her shoulders this time. "I'm going to get her out of here, all right?"

She looked up at him, her eyes big and even as she tried to mask her expression, the fear and confusion were clear this time, "I'm not leaving, he will stop you."

"The cameras and security in the building have been disabled. But we don't have time to argue." Sighing softly, he pressed the comm device in his ear. "Impulse, I need you at my location."

Chloe had barely opened her mouth and she closed it again, her eyes widening as she felt a strong wind and suddenly a man dressed in red appeared out of nowhere.

"What do you need, Bossman?" Bart asked, looking at him, then at her.

Oliver pushed open the door to Moira Sullivan's room. "I need you to get this woman to my apartment. And then I need you to come back for her daughter." He looked over his shoulder at Chloe.

Bart barely even nodded before picking up the woman and vanishing with her.

Chloe had just stared at them through the whole interaction, knowing about mutants and seeing one working with Oliver were two different things.

He turned to face her. "I know you don't like me. And I know I've screwed up everything when it comes to you, but I need you to trust me just for a few minutes. All right? Just a few minutes." He gazed at her intently.

She swallowed hard and remained quiet then nodded slightly as she looked back into the now empty room, "I just want to end this."

"We will," he said quietly, nodding.

Chloe took a deep breath and swallowed then nodded slightly once more as the strong wind hit her once more.

"Your turn?" Bart offered, holding out a hand to her.

Oliver nodded at him. "I'll meet you back there." He glanced at Chloe once more.

Chloe hesitated for a second then took a deep breath and took the man's hand, a second later, she felt arms around her and her surroundings became blurry.

Bart offered her a grin when he let her go a moment later, standing in the middle of Oliver's clocktower apartment.

Once the room stopped spinning and she found her footing, her eyes fell on her mom instantly, her stomach clenching tightly as she took in her unconscious form, "you should make sure he's okay, Lex might be on his way," she told the man and saw as he vanished once more. Without wasting anymore time, she hurried to her mom's side and placed her fingers to the pulse point on her throat, relieved to feel a normal, steady pace and her skin warm under her touch.

Moments passed, and suddenly a loud explosion could be heard from the middle of downtown Metropolis, fire shooting up into the night sky and seconds later, Oliver and Bart appeared in the clocktower apartment.

Oliver shoved his hood back and off his head, pulling off his glasses and setting them down on the table by the elevator as he glanced over to where Chloe was.

Chloe had taken a seat on the very edge of the couch, her fingers wrapped around her mom's hand as she spoke with her quietly, but when a strong explosion shook the building, she stilled and didn't move again until the two men walked into the apartment, "what was that?"

He glanced over to Bart, who was looking back at him uncertainly. "Go on and fuel up," he said quietly. "We may need you again soon." Then he drew in a breath and turned to look at Chloe. "That was LuthorCorp being blown to pieces."

Bart nodded and once more, disappeared.

Chloe stood up, her eyes wide, " _what_?"

Oliver raised his eyebrows at her. "We got everyone out safely. No one got hurt," he informed her.

She stared at him for a full moment, her head spinning once more. She'd spend four years having complete control over every single detail in her life and it seemed that since Oliver showed up, she had none at all. "you did this?"

"It's what we've been doing," he told her, unzipping his vest and heading for his secret room, pressing a button and waiting for the bookcase to slide aside.

Her eyes widened even more as she watched him, "you need to go, vanish, just _disappear_ ," she told him, her heart beating fast.

Oliver shook his head a little, stepping into the room. "That's not going to happen." He started changing out of his uniform and into his regular clothes--a t-shirt and jeans--once more.

Chloe shook her head too, "he will know, Oliver and he will come for you."

He stepped out of the room once more, nodding. "Yeah. He will. Let him." His jaw tightened.

"He will kill you, Oliver," she said, her face growing serious, "I can't let that happen."

"He won't," he said, shaking his head as he moved toward her. "He might try, but he won't succeed."

"You don't know him like I do," she told him tightly, stepping toward him, "he won't hesitate, Oliver."

"And neither will I," Oliver responded just as tensely, staring down at her.

Chloe's jaw clenched as she stared up at him, "I can help."

He searched her eyes. "Okay," he said a moment later.

Sighing deeply, she nodded and turned away, "I can't move her to my apartment, I can't figure out why she's unconscious. It's like she's in a coma, her breathing is even, her heart speed is good."

Oliver hesitated a moment, then gently rested a hand on her shoulder. "I have a doctor who looks after the people that we free from Lex's labs. I'll have him brought in." His voice was quiet.

She wrapped her arms around herself, keeping her eyes on her mom, "did you know?"

"About your mom?" His eyebrows furrowed.

"Yes," she told him, glancing at him over her shoulder, "did you know she would be there when you gave me the files?"

"No," he said honestly. "I had no idea where your mother was, or anything about her, really."

"Then why were you meeting with Lois?" Chloe asked, turning to look at her mom again.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, raking a hand through his hair. "Because I thought if anyone could give me insight into Chloe Sullivan, it would be her cousin," he said softly.

Chloe sighed deeply and shook her head a little. She would argue normally, but she didn't have the energy, not right now, not with everything that seemed to be happening all at once. She walked back to the couch slowly, keeping her eyes on her mom, "when do you think your doctor can look at her?"

"I can have him here within the hour," he said softly, watching her with worry. "Do you uh--I could make some tea," he offered. "Or some soup, if you want."

She shook her head and resumed her position on the couch, reaching for her hand again.

Oliver picked the blanket up off the couch and gently covered her mom with it. "For what it's worth, I'm really sorry," he whispered.

"What for?" She asked without looking up.

"All of it," he said quietly. "For Lex doing any of this in the first place. For you finding out about your mom like this." He paused, looking down at the floor for a moment. "For the things I said the other night."

"You don't have to apologize for any of it." She said quietly, her voice tight once more.

He felt his chest tighten a little and he simply nodded. "I'll call Dr. Hamilton, and have him brought in." He slowly headed out of the living room and toward the kitchen.

Chloe didn't answer, she stared down at her mother for a moment longer then, hesitantly, reached to brush her fingers through her hair. She had given up searching for her at the same time her dad died. If she hadn't reached out for her then, she figured there was nothing in the world that could make her want to be a part of her life again. But all these years, all the time when she thought her mother had walked out because she simply wasn't a good enough daughter, she might have been wrong. Maybe her mother had been in trouble all along and instead of searching for her and helping her, Chloe had just ignored her existence. She couldn't help but wonder how long she'd been right under her nose and what kind of things Lex had been doing to her.

She also couldn't help but wonder what else she was wrong about. Since her father's death, she'd been living like she had it all figured out, but the past few days had proven to her that she couldn't be more wrong. She had chosen to drop Clark because being around him hurt, he was just another person she'd never be good enough for. But she had chosen to drop Lois because she thought she was protecting the only family she had left and that obviously hadn't been the case.

She had also made up her mind about both Oliver Queen and Green Arrow and now that she knew they were both the same person, she couldn't really even begin to make sense of who he _really_ was.

For four years, she thought she'd been in complete control, over _everything_ , and now that she knew she had been just fooling herself all along with that sense of security, she had no idea what to do, what to think, where to go from there. She had made up her mind to take down Lex's project herself, without letting anyone get involved and potentially hurt, but she hadn't been fast enough and if she was honest with herself, she couldn't be sure she would have been enough to do it on her own to begin with.

There was a lot she had to figure out, a lot she had to understand, but she had no idea where to even begin.

She hadn't felt this lost, this overwhelmed since the day she lost her dad.


	14. Chapter 14

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Oliver's doctor had come over to check on Moira, he'd gotten there less than two hours later and Chloe was glad to hear she was, as far as he could tell, healthy. She had searched her mother's arms for needle marks or other scars but had been relieved not to be able to find any. If Lex had been experimenting on her, she didn't seem to have any side effects aside from the fact that the doctor didn't seem to figure out why she was unconscious.

The man had collected blood samples so he could run some tests, but there hadn't been much he could do without having anything on her, and since Chloe hadn't been able to find files on her mother yet, they had no way of knowing why Lex had been keeping her in the first place.

There wasn't much research Chloe could do from Oliver's place, but leaving her mother's side wasn't an option. The doctor had just left a few moments ago, Oliver had left with him to talk to him, Chloe guessed, but she wasn't going anywhere. She had to figure out the safest place to move her mother too, but a place Lex wouldn't have access to was almost impossible to find.

Oliver stepped back inside his apartment a few moments later, gazing at Chloe from the doorway. Shortly before Emil had arrived, he had carefully moved her mother into one of the guest rooms where he figured she'd be more comfortable. Drawing in a breath, he reached a hand up and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Did he say anything else?" Chloe asked, feeling his presence there but not looking away from her mom.

"He's going to put a rush on the results," he told her quietly.

"Thank you," she said quietly. She had her arms wrapped around herself and she was watching her mom closely, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she was there. A moment later, she turned to face Oliver, "and thank you for letting her stay here, I'll try to set up a place by tomorrow."

"It's not a problem, Chloe," he said softly, gazing at her intently and shaking his head a little.

"I don't want to get in the way of anything," she said tightly but sincerely, "you have done enough."

Oliver forced himself to take a deep breath. "We should talk."

She took a deep breath and nodded slightly, she couldn't argue with that, not after everything.

"I'll make some tea," he said softly, offering her a tiny smile and then heading down the hallway.

Chloe sighed once he walked away and dropped her arms to her sides before walking over to her mom and pressing her lips to her forehead. She looked at her for a moment longer then hesitantly walked out of the bedroom and toward the kitchen.

He had just set the tea kettle on top of the oven and turned the flame on before she stepped into the kitchen. He turned to face her, gazing at her intently for a moment, then motioning to the small table and chairs there.

She looked at him for a moment, her gaze not nearly as intense, in fact, she almost avoided meeting his eyes altogether before moving to sit on the offered chair.

Oliver slowly moved to sit down across from her, exhaling and resting his hands on the table. "I'm sure you have questions." His voice was soft.

"About you?" She asked, surprised.

"About a lot of things." He offered her a faint, albeit slightly wary smile.

"You could say that," she said quietly, then shrugged, "but most of them are things I need to figure out on my own."

He looked down at the table. "The things that aren't though...I think you could probably use answers for those, and I'm here to help."

"I'm not sure what that would be," she admitted quietly, pursing her lips together, "I just want to keep her safe and to take him down."

"I can help with both of those things," he said just as quietly.

"I can't ask you to and I can't accept that help from you." Chloe told him, looking down again. She didn't think she would have much of a choice in the matter, both because Oliver would insist on it, and because she didn't think she would be able to do either of those things on her own. She might have her share of power, but it was all connected to Lex.

Oliver paused, watching her. "Chloe, look at me." His voice remained soft.

Chloe took a deep breath and reluctantly lifted her head.

"Your mom was in 33.1," he said quietly. "Which means more than likely she's either meteor-infected, or she has some kind of ability through some other means." He paused again. "I have a facility in Star City. It's where we've moved everyone from Lex's labs that haven't been able to either function on their own, or to recover until they can. It's secure. Safe."

"I don't want her locked up anywhere again unless it's necessary for her health," she told him quietly but her jaw tightened a little.

Oliver winced a little. "I would _never_ do that," he said just as quietly, his own jaw tightening.

"I didn't mean it like that," Chloe said sincerely then sighed, "I just don't want that for her, to be in hospitals or facilities or... on her own." Her jaw clenched once more and she looked away.

He rubbed a hand over his face tiredly, gazing at her. "I know," he said very softly. "I don't blame you."

She shook her head a little and shrugged, "if your doctor needs a place where he can run some more tests, I will consider it, but I want to try to find something else first."

"It's up to you." His voice was quiet and he rose to his feet when the tea kettle whistled.

"Actually," Chloe said when he got up and looked up at him, "do you have something stronger?"

He glanced at her over his shoulder. "Name your poison."

"Scotch if you have it, but anything would be fine." She told him, looking back at him.

Nodding a little, he opened the cabinets beneath the sink and pulled out a bottle of scotch, shutting off the oven and then pulling down two glasses. He carried all of the items back to the table and poured each of them a glass, pushing one of them toward her.

"Thanks," she told him, picking up the glass and taking a long sip instantly.

"Welcome," he responded, taking a drink of his own.

She was silent for a moment longer then took a deep breath, "why are you helping me?" She asked, eyes on her glass.

"Because it's what I do," he said with a shrug, not really thinking about it.

"Even after everything I said and did to you." She said. It wasn't a question.

"It's not like I've been very nice to you either," he responded.

"No, but you tried," she told him, taking another long sip from her glass.

Oliver was silent for a moment. "Lex is a master manipulator. You can't blame yourself for being blindsided. Not when the guy saved your life."

"I was never blindsided, Oliver, I knew what Lex was capable of all along and I knew what I was getting myself into, I just never thought he was hurting so many people already."

"I meant with your mom," he said softly.

Chloe paused at that then nodded a little, "right." She agreed, finishing her glass.

Oliver took a drink of his scotch, as well, then poured her another glass wordlessly.

She nodded slightly and picked up the glass, taking another long sip of it, after the last couple of days, she needed it. "What about him?"

"We'll take him down. All of us, together. And we'll make sure he can't get back up." His jaw tightened a little.

"Kill him," she said simply, looking down at her glass. Lex had done a lot for her, even if she always knew there was a price on it, and in a weird way, still felt like she owed him a lot, but she also knew him well enough to know what no matter what they did, nothing else would stop him, not when he was becoming his father.

Oliver's eyes widened at that. "What? No. Chloe, we don't...we don't kill people," he said, shaking his head. "There's another plan in place."

She took a deep breath and shook her head, standing up, her glass in hand, "there is no way around it, no matter what you do, he will find a way to get himself out of it, just like Lionel did."

"No. Not from this one," he said quietly, watching her.

"What are you doing?" Chloe asked, even if she was still skeptical that something could ever hold Lex back.

"Let's just say there are a couple of extremely powerful people that I work with that have arranged for Lex to have an indefinite stay in Arkham."

"The Gotham facility for the criminally insane?" She asked, frowning then shook her head, "the second any psychiatrist starts talking to him, he will get a clean bill, Oliver. He's smart, he will play them and he will get out and when he does, he'll be coming after us."

Oliver pursed his lips and gazed at her. "Like I said, I work with a couple of extremely powerful individuals."

Chloe sighed deeply then sipped on her drink again, "I suppose that's a start until we find something more permanent," or until she works up the nerve to take him down herself, "how are you planning on getting him?"

"We're going to alter his memories," he informed her, pouring himself another drink.

She paused and cocked her head at that, arching an eyebrow as she stared at him curiously, waiting for him to explain.

He didn't, however. He simply set the bottle of scotch down on the table once more and took a sip, leaning back in his chair.

"How can you do that?" Chloe asked when he didn't continue, "what are you going to alter them to?"

"I don't know what the alteration plans are, since I don't have that kind of ability." He shrugged.

"But someone you know does?" She asked, eyes widening as she sat up, this was so much bigger than she expected it to be, and although she knew meteor freaks could have all kinds of abilities, she had never heard of them using them for good before, but this gave her hope that maybe, if her mom was infected, she could be okay.

"I actually know two people with that kind of power," Oliver informed her quietly, not sure how to take her widening eyes.

"How does that work?" She asked, watching him curiously.

He studied her in return. "One's with magic," he told her. "The other's a form of telepathy."

"Right, and how long will it last?" Things like this still intrigued her a lot, she almost forgot about the reason why they were on the subject for a second, it was a good distraction from everything else.

"Permanently," he said with a slight shrug, recalling that at one time the pretty blond had been an aspiring journalist and not feeling surprised by all the questions.

Chloe watched him for a second then nodded a little and took a deep breath, "will you have someone to keep an eye on him at all times in case it doesn't work?" She asked as she finished her drink and instantly went for the bottle again, already feeling slightly numb thanks to the alcohol.

"Well, that's why he'll be in Arkham. It's our fail-safe."

"I want to have access to his cell before he goes in, I want to install cameras of my own," it wasn't a request.

Oliver raised an eyebrow at her, but nodded. "All right."

"He has had cameras in my apartment since I moved in, it's only fair I get to keep an eye on him now," she told him, picking up her glass and drinking the whole thing in one long sip.

He froze at that, staring at her. "What did you just say?"

"Don't worry, he doesn't have audio in it, he didn't hear anything the night I found out about your alter ego," she said, shrugging his concern off as she poured herself another glass.

"You're sure about that?"

"Yes, I always check on the footage," she told him, looking down at her glass.

Oliver blinked, staring at her for a moment. "I see."

She remained quiet, her limbs feeling heavy as she lifted her glass and sipped on her drink.

"How are you okay with all of this?" he whispered, shaking his head a little.

"With what?" She asked, lifting her head slowly to look at him.

"With everything he's done to you."

"He's Lex Luthor, Oliver," she told him, looking back down at her glass, "I would be incredibly stupid not to expect things like that from him."

Oliver stared at her. "I don't care who he is, Chloe. He doesn't have the right to do these kinds of things."

"No, but I went in knowing what he could do, I expected them to happen." She said, sipping again.

"You should lie down," he said quietly after a moment. "It's been a long couple days."

"I'm fine," she said stubbornly, sipping again on her drink.

"The hell you are."

At that, she paused and lifted her head, staring at him, a smirk appearing on her lips, although her expression was tired, "excuse me?"

"You're not _fine_ , Chloe. You can't possibly be fine." He rose to his feet, gazing down at her.

Chloe smiled slowly at that, leaning back against her chair and staring up at him, "are you going to tell me what I feel like now too?"

Oliver's jaw tightened at that. "Are we back to this now? Really?"

"You're the one starting it," she told him, cocking her head as she stared up at him, "so you're the good guy who saved my mom, helped a bunch of people and is going to get rid of Lex," Chloe raised her glass at him and smiled, "cheers for you," she took a long drink, "this doesn't mean you know me any better other than the fact that my life isn't perfect and I'm a fuck up."

He leaned down so his face was only a couple inches from hers. "Well, guess what, Chloe? You don't really know me, either," he said, his voice quiet, but with an edge to it. He glared at her for a moment, then moved away, shaking his head and walking out of the kitchen and down the hall.

She watched him go then sighed deeply, looking at her glass again and finishing up another glass, she had lost count of how many they were, but at least she wasn't thinking anymore.

* * *

A couple hours later Oliver made his way down to the kitchen once more, not really surprised to find Chloe slumped onto the table, passed out, the bottle of scotch now empty. He sighed softly and rubbed his hands over his face tiredly. He'd tried going to sleep, but guilt had kept him awake. He moved over to her side, sliding his arms beneath her legs and lifting her up, cradling her against his chest and slowly making his way down the hall toward one of the guest rooms. He toed the door open quietly, shifting her in his arms just a little and yanking the blankets back. He gently laid her down on the mattress, sitting down at the end of the bed and untying her shoes, then pulling them off and setting them at her bedside. He covered her up gently, gazing down at her for a moment, then heading for the door.

"Oliver?" She moaned quietly, her head spinning as she pushed herself up into a sitting position.

He paused, but didn't turn around. "Just get some rest, Chloe." His voice was quiet, tired.

"No," she said quietly, pushing the covers down and shifting slightly on the bed.

"Does _everything_ have to be a battle with you?" he asked wearily.

"She might wake up," Chloe told him, turning and dropping her legs on the side of the bed.

"Fine," he answered. "Next room, to the right." Raking a hand through his hair, he got out of her way.

"Oliver?" She called again as she stood up and instantly leaned against the bed again.

Sighing inaudibly, he turned to face her, his face hidden by the shadows in the room. "Yeah?"

"Do you think she'll recognize me?" She asked quietly, turning her face to look at him.

He held his breath for a moment. "I don't know," he said just as quietly, not wanting to give her false hope.

"Do you think your parents would? If they saw you now?" She asked, her voice more strained than before.

"Chloe," he whispered, shaking his head a little as his chest tightened. He took a hesitant step toward her.

"Maybe you should take her to Star City," she said quietly, "I think it's better if she doesn't know."

His eyebrows furrowed at that. "You've had a lot to drink, Chloe. So don't make rash decisions," he said quietly.

"It helped me think," she told him, still leaning against the bed as her legs didn't seem to want to support her at the moment. Lowering her head, she shrugged, "you were right when you said my dad wouldn't be proud of me now," she whispered, her voice cracking, "she left because I wasn't a good enough daughter, she won't want to be around me now either."

Oliver winced involuntarily, looking away. "What I said...that was...I was out of line, Chloe."

"It was the truth," she told him, shaking her head a little, causing it to spin more, so she braced herself on the bed a little more, "I don't want to think I can have her back in my life only for her to leave again."

He reached out, resting his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "Okay," he whispered. "We'll talk about this in a few hours. Do you want to sit with her, or do you want to sleep here?"

"I don't know," she whispered, her eyes big as she looked up at him.

Drawing in a breath, he met her eyes for a moment, then pressed a kiss to her forehead without thinking about it. "Why don't you sleep for now? I'll sit with her until you're awake."

Chloe sighed a little then leaned into him, closing her eyes, "I don't know," she repeated.

"I know," he murmured, a little surprised that she was actually leaning _toward_ him.

"I had everything planned," she murmured, "I don't know anything anymore."

Oliver hesitantly slid his arms around her. "I know," he murmured.

Chloe was quiet for a moment, then sniffed quietly, lifting her hands to his shirt and holding on to the sides of it, "I was supposed to ruin you."

He gazed down at her, nodding a little. "I figured that out," he said softly.

"And then you started to act like you cared and you changed everything," she whispered, her voice tight again as she lifted her head, "I knew I wasn't going to be able to, so I had to get rid of you, put distance between you and him."

His chest tightened at her quiet admission. "Chloe," he whispered, shaking his head. "Shhh."

Chloe sniffed and looked down, shaking her head a little, "I'm sorry."

He hesitated, then hugged her more tightly. "It's okay."

She turned her head against his chest and hesitantly wrapped her arms around him too, "why do you have to be so good?" She murmured, sniffing quietly again.

Oliver smiled faintly at that, resting his chin atop her head. "Guess I'm just awesome like that," he teased lightly, rubbing her back.

Chloe sighed deeply, leaning into him a little more and closing her eyes, tears running down her cheek.

"It's gonna be all right," he murmured, shutting his eyes. "We'll figure it all out."

She nodded a little and without thinking about it, tightened her arms around him. Her head was still spinning and her brain was fuzzy, she wasn't sure if she was making sense or not, but she was aware of what she was saying It was easier to tell him everything when she was drunk, and she was glad she had because even if she still felt completely lost, at least with him there, she didn't feel nearly as alone as she had in the past four years.


	15. Chapter 15

Oliver rarely ever simply held a woman as she slept.

He never really thought that Chloe Sullivan would be the one that he actually did. She slept in his arms, her face buried against his chest as he gazed down at her intently, not moving too much because he didn't want to disturb her. Between everything that had happened and the amount of alcohol she'd consumed, she needed the sleep, frankly.

Sighing softly, he pressed a light kiss to the top of her head, then shifted his gaze to the window where light was beginning to stream through.

On her part, Chloe had never fallen asleep with a man before, she had shared a bed with two people in her life: her dad, and her cousin Lois and it had been a long time since she'd been around either, so when she felt movement and then arms around her, she woke up. Her head was pounding, but her body was relaxed, more than it had been in a while.

"Easy," he murmured. "You're all right."

She stilled, then relaxed a little when she recognized his voice, apparently she had fallen asleep on him, and he had stayed there with her even after she had. Sighing deeply, she closed her eyes again.

"You can go back to sleep," Oliver said softly.

"Is she awake?" She whispered.

"Everything's been quiet," he murmured.

Chloe shifted slightly and lifted her head to look at him, opening her eyes slowly, "thank you for staying."

"Not a problem," he assured her, meeting her eyes.

She looked at him, swallowing hard, "I'm sorry I freaked out on you like that."

"Apology accepted," Oliver told her, offering her a small, faint smile.

Chloe looked at him for a moment longer then shifted closer and pressed her lips softly to the corner of his mouth.

He stilled for a moment, then moved one hand up to cup her cheek, shaking his head a little. "You don't need to do that, Chloe."

She pursed her lips together and looked at him for a moment, "do you not want me to?"

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "If I said I wasn't attracted to you, I'd be lying and we both know it." He paused. "But I don't want you to kiss me because you feel like you owe me something."

Chloe took a deep breath and looked at him for a moment then pursed her lips together as she did, her eyes searching his face and then, a second later, she leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips.

Oliver's eyes drifted shut and he kissed her back softly, sliding a hand up and into her hair.

She shifted closer to him, her arm was still wrapped around him where she'd had it while she'd been asleep. She'd been scared of how much she'd enjoy kissing him slowly like this, but now she had given up on trying to shut him out, so she might as well make the best of it.

He let his hand trail lightly down her spine to rest at the small of her back, brushing his nose lightly against hers and then kissing her once more, softly.

Chloe shivered a little and turned her head, brushing her lips to the side of his mouth instead, her heart beating fast against her chest, her head was still hurting, but she wasn't really paying attention to it.

He leaned his forehead against hers and sighed very softly. "Why don't you lie back down?" he suggested. "And I'll go get you some aspirin and a glass of water, and shut the blinds."

She blinked and raised her eyebrows a little, "you don't have to do that."

Oliver raised an eyebrow, as well. "So you don't have a pounding headache?"

Pausing, she looked at him for a moment then took a deep breath and nodded, "yes, but you don't have to take care of me like that."

"It's not a big deal, Chloe," he said softly. "Trust me, I've had my fair share of hangovers."

"But you've done so much already," she whispered, lowering her forehead to his shoulder.

He hesitated only a few seconds before sliding his arm around her in a hug. He pressed a kiss against her temple. "I told you before, I like you," he murmured.

Chloe closed her eyes tightly and swallowed even as she tightened her arm around him too, "why?" She murmured, not lifting her head, "I was nothing but a bitch to you."

Oliver was quiet for a moment and he gently stroked her hair. "That second night we met. At that ball?"

"Yeah?" She whispered, sighing deeply and turning her head so her cheek was pressed to his shoulder instead.

"There was this moment," he said softly. "You saw your cousin, and your whole demeanor changed. Just for a second, but it was there. And I knew there was a lot more to you than the act you were putting on."

She was quiet for a moment then lifted her head to look at him, "I didn't think anyone would notice."

He nodded just a little, watching her. "I know."

"Were you already talking to Lois then?" She asked quietly, searching his eyes.

"No," he said softly. "It's actually why I went to talk to her in the first place." He gazed at her intently.

"Because you were curious?" She asked quietly, holding his gaze too.

"Because I knew there was something I was missing. And I had a feeling she would know what it was," he told her, reaching up and tucking some hair behind her ear.

"How did you know she was my cousin?"

Oliver watched her for a moment. "We share a mutual acquaintance," he told her quietly.

Chloe looked at him for a moment longer then pursed her lips together and looked away, focusing her gaze on his cheek instead, "does she hate me?"

His chest tightened at her question. "No, Chloe. Not even close. She misses you."

"How much does she know?" She asked, her own chest tight.

Oliver searched her eyes. "Not the most recent developments. But a lot of it."

She took a deep breath, "do you think she would want to talk to me? Once Lex is gone."

"I know she does. She's dying to talk to you, Chloe."

"Not yet," she held her breath, "I can't put her in danger."

"I understand," he said quietly, nodding a little. "After. When it's done."

She nodded slightly, holding her breath for a second then letting it out slowly and laying her head back down. Seeing her cousin and being able to explain everything to her was what she wanted the most, as long as Lois remained safe.

"You're not alone anymore," he whispered, a wave of protectiveness washing over him as he held her.

Her eyes burned with tears instantly at his words and she hid her face in his neck as she closed her eyes tightly, her arm wrapped firmly around him, "he can't hurt you," she whispered, her voice cracking.

"Shh," he murmured, rubbing her back. "He won't. I have a good team, Chloe. It's gonna be all right."

"When are we going to go find him?" She asked, lifting her head again, not caring about her teary eyes this time, he'd seen her in a worse shape the previous night.

"Soon," he assured her, reaching up and gently wiping a tear off her cheek with the pad of his thumb. "I have a couple calls to make, but within a couple of days."

"I can be bait," she said quietly, holding his gaze.

Oliver searched her eyes. "We might need you to do that," he said just as quietly. "But you'll be safe the whole time."

"I just want to make sure he can't hurt anyone else," she told him, her voice firmer now.

"I know. And we will. All of us." He nodded slightly.

"Thank you," she whispered, "I'll do whatever it takes."

"So will I," he said quietly, holding her gaze.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, holding his gaze back, "two days."

"Two days," he echoed, watching her. "Why don't I get that aspirin and start making those calls?"

"Okay," she breathed, shifting and sitting up a little, "I'll go check on her."

"All right." He pressed a light kiss against her cheek, then slid his legs off the bed and rose to his feet.

Chloe rubbed her hands over her face and took a deep breath as she prepared to get up, her head was still hurting, but she felt better about all the questions, doubts and things she had to figure out.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Chloe decided she had to go into her place, she wanted the files she had hacked, in case she had missed something, especially on her mom. She had walked there on her own, despite Oliver's protests, she knew Lex wouldn't try anything in public, or so she hoped. There was no telling how angry he was or how much he knew already, but with the LuthorCorp towers being gone, she guessed he had more important things to deal with than her at the moment.

Still, she didn't want to linger, so she walked as fast as she could toward her apartment.

And then he was there, suddenly walking beside her on the sidewalk. "Chloe."

Chloe stilled suddenly, holding her breath when she heard his silk-smooth voice. She turned her head to look at him and put on her best acting skills by blowing out a breath, "Lex, you're okay."

"I'm overwhelmed by your concern for my health over a day after my company was blown up by terrorists."

"Of course I would be concerned about you, Lex. I wanted to make sure you weren't hurt in the explosion."

"Of course," he echoed, reaching out and taking her by the arm--not hard enough to hurt, but enough to be firm.

She did her best not to swallow hard when he touched her arm, "what can I do to help?"

"I need you to come with me to help me straighten some things out," he informed her, nodding toward his car.

"Go where?" She asked, trying to sound normal even as her heart raced against her chest.

Lex arched an eyebrow at that. "To the mansion," he told her.

"Are you sure you're safe there? We should go to my apartment, whoever did this might be after you and the mansion would be the next obvious target," even if she was nervous and scared, lying to him came easily still.

"I think we'll be a lot safer in Smallville than Metropolis, considering," he murmured, glancing at her with a meaningful expression.

"Considering?" She echoed, not giving up yet.

"Considering that Oliver Queen is one of the terrorists," he responded, watching her. "But you already knew that, didn't you, Chloe?"

Chloe stared at him for a moment, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Lex."

A faint smirk touched his mouth. "Sure you don't." He steered her toward the limo that was waiting.

She held her breath and walked with him, she wanted to warn Oliver, somehow, but she couldn't risk bringing him to her.

"It's good that you're coming along quietly," Lex informed her, opening the back door of the limo and nodding toward the inside of the car.

"Are you trying to intimidate me?" She smirked softly, arching her eyebrows.

"Of course not. But I'd hate to see anything happen to your mother because of your foolishness," he said smoothly, motioning for her to get inside.

Chloe stared at him for a moment, her jaw actually clenching now, "you don't have her." She told him, stepping into the car regardless.

"Don't be so certain," he murmured, crawling into the car beside her and shutting the door, locking them.

"How long have you had her?" She asked, her expression blank as she stared at him.

"Which time?" he questioned, simply raising an eyebrow.

"What do you want with her, Lex?" She asked, sitting up.

"She's meteor-infected, Chloe."

"What ability does she have?" Her voice was tight.

"She can control other meteor freaks," he informed her. "Or anyone she has some kind of connection with." He raised an eyebrow at her.

"She can control me?" Chloe asked, her eyes narrowing.

"She can," Lex confirmed. "But I'm not going to let that happen."

"What are you going to do to stop her?" She asked, her jaw clenching.

He turned his head to look at her, raising his other eyebrow. "Keep her in a safe place, far away from you."

"She's my mother, Lex. I don't want her _away_ from me, and you had no right to keep her away for this long." She told him tightly.

"She's a danger to society, Chloe," he said, watching her intently. "A menace."

"She's my _mother_ , I should have the right to decide if she is or not more than you would. I should at the very least have the right to see her when you've been keeping her _right here_ for however long."

"Three years," he informed her. "And considering how emotional you're getting, keeping this information from you was the right thing to do. You can't see things clearly."

Chloe stared at him for a moment, her jaw clenched as she read him, and then, without warning, she lifted her hand and slapped him hard across the face, "you had _no_ right."

Lex was silent for a moment and then he reached out, grabbing her by the throat and yanking her closer to him. "And you had no right to betray me," he said darkly.

She lifted her head slightly so there was less pressure on it, her jaw clenched, "at least you saw it coming," she told him tightly, "or did you have the cameras installed in my apartment just for your entertainment?"

He smirked. "When it comes down to it, you can only _really_ trust yourself." He shoved her backwards roughly, fingerprint marks visible on her pale skin.

Chloe brushed her hand over her neck and took a deep breath, "a lesson I learned a long time ago thanks to you and your father."

"I saved your _life_ ," he reminded her, his jaw tightening. "But don't worry. I'll be correcting _that_ glaring error in judgment soon enough."

"I always knew you would eventually," she told him, smirking, "why do you think I made sure no one would miss me when you did?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say _no one_." He smiled. "At the very least Oliver will be depressed he couldn't save you and your cousin before I kill him."

"If you're killing all of us, why would it matter?" Chloe asked, her chest tightening painfully but she did her best to keep her expression neutral.

Lex smiled at that. "I didn't say I'd be killing you _quickly_ , Chloe."

"I never expected you would, Lex." She told him, leaning against her seat and looking out the window.


	16. Chapter 16

  


"They are on their way to the mansion," Bart said the second after he appeared in the Clocktower after following Lex's car most of the way to the small town to make sure Chloe was okay.

Oliver's jaw tightened at that information and he nodded slightly, already dressed in his uniform. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

Zatanna glanced around at the rest of the team members and drew in a breath. "Tropelet!"

Bart blinked and frowned when he looked around and they were just a few feet away from the mansion, "some warning next time, gorgeous? That doesn't bode well with my stomach."

"Shh," Victor reached for Bart and Oliver when he saw a car pulling up, "hide, that must be them."

Oliver ducked down behind the row of hedges that lined the driveway, his grip tightening on the crossbow in his hands. His eyes were dark and narrowed as he watched Lex climb out of the backseat, his hand wrapped around Chloe's arm tightly. He nodded slightly at Zatanna, who stepped away from the front door, glancing at Lex and Chloe. 

"Mr. Luthor?" Zatanna's voice was filled with fake uncertainty.

Chloe blinked as she looked at the woman who seemed to have appeared from nowhere, although, judging by her outfit with the fishnets and stilettos, Chloe was guessing she was there to try and get on Lex's bed.

"Who are you?" Lex sneered, arching an eyebrow.

She flashed him a smile. "Zatanna," she informed him. "Zatanna Zatara."

Lex continued to stare at her blankly, his eyes narrowing, "the name doesn't sound familiar, what are you doing in my property?"

"It doesn't?" She cocked her head to the side, taking a step closer to him. "Daughter of John Zatara? Maestro of Magic?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "I do believe you bought a great deal of his things when he passed away, Mr. Luthor."

He cocked his head, "my investors buy a lot of valuables, Miss Zatara," he told her, "if you would like to get any of the possessions back, you can make an appointment through the Metropolis offices."

"Oh, I'm not actually here for that," she told him, arching an eyebrow. "I'm here for _her_." She nodded slightly at Chloe, smiling.

Chloe blinked and raised an eyebrow, looking at the woman, her eyes widening slightly. If what she was wearing was some kind of costume, she couldn't help but wonder if this was one of the members of Oliver's team, they seemed to like dressing up.

Lex looked from Zatanna to Chloe, "her?" He asked, his grip tightening around Chloe's arm, "Miss Sullivan and I have business to attend to, I assure you she will do her best to contact you once we're done."

"I'm afraid I don't have time to wait." She raised an eyebrow. 

_Come on, Zee_ , Oliver thought impatiently.

"I'm afraid you don't have an option," he told her, tugging on Chloe's arm and pulling her toward the mansion.

Chloe looked at the woman and shook her head a little, she had no idea what Oliver was thinking, assuming this woman was actually working for him, but he was going to need a lot more people than that to pull her out of Lex's grip and take him down.

"I'm afraid you're the one who is out of options, Mr. Luthor." Her eyes narrowed. "Esaeler reh."

Lex hissed and pulled his hand away from Chloe instantly, as if it was burning.

Chloe's eyes widened and she stepped away quickly, reaching for the gun she still had in her purse a second later. 

At that moment, the others moved from the bushes, surrounding Lex. 

Oliver trained his crossbow on the bald man, his jaw tight. "Impulse, take care of any guards," he directed. "Cyborg, the video feed."

There was a strong wind and in the same second, Victor murmured, "on it."

Chloe held her gun up, pointing it toward Lex even as she stepped away and watched him get surrounded by a tall man in orange and another woman, this time a blond, also wearing fishnets. 

"I'm afraid your business days are over, Lex," Oliver informed him, his voice distorted.

Lex arched an eyebrow as he looked around, "by you, Oliver?"

Oliver wasn't terribly surprised that Lex knew his real identity. "By all of us," he responded.

"We should move this inside," Zatanna suggested, keeping her eyes trained on Lex.

Lex turned to look at Chloe and raised his eyebrows, "are you sure about this, Chloe?" He asked, his voice low, "you wouldn't want anything to happen to your mother, would you? Or Lois?"

Chloe's jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed, still holding the gun toward his head, "you don't have either one of them." She just hoped that was the truth.

"No, he doesn't," Oliver agreed, narrowing his own eyes. "Is that how you got her into the car with you, Lex? Lies? I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"You really believe you have everything under control don't you, Oliver?" Lex smirked and shook his head before glancing at Chloe, "are you sure you want to just take his word on it?"

"I rather take his than yours anytime, Lex," she said, eyes narrowing, her jaw tight.

"The difference is, Lex, I don't _want_ or _need_ her to be under my control," he said with disgust. "Let's get him inside and get this done." His jaw was tight.

Zatanna nodded once, glancing around. "Tropelet!"

The gardens around the mansion vanished from view and a second later, Chloe found herself and the entire group of people around them in Lex's study on the third floor of the mansion. She blinked and looked around for a second, but kept her gun pointed at Lex.

"Ugh, I hate it when she does that," AC complained, his face paling a little as he looked around.

" _Seriously_ ," Bart, who had reunited with the group after knocking out all of Lex's security, groaned and covered his stomach.

Lex arched an eyebrow and looked at Zatanna, "interesting."

The look in his eyes sent a chill down her spine. She wanted to get this over with and get away from him. And Zatanna wasn't easily spooked. "You're a monster," she informed him.

"He won't be much longer," Oliver said calmly, pushing the hood back off his head.

Chloe glanced at Oliver out of the corner of her eye, "is she going to do it?" She asked tightly.

Zatanna took a step closer to Lex, reaching out and touching his temple. "Tegrof," she whispered.

As Lex's expression suddenly went blank, his shoulders slumped and his mouth hung open slightly, Chloe's eyes widened, it wasn't until she watched him for a full moment and made sure he wasn't going to snap out of it that she lowered her gun slowly.

"That's it?" Vic asked uncertainly.

Zatanna glanced at him, nodding slightly. "The thing about magic is you need to keep it simple." Her voice was quiet and she looked back at Lex, swallowing hard. "Do you know where you are?"

Lex lifted his head slightly but continued to stare blankly around.

Chloe stared at him for a moment and lifted her gun toward him again, her jaw clenching tightly. It would be easy to just end it now, get rid of him for good, not have to worry about him hurting anyone anymore. Not have to stay away from the people she loves because he may or may not hurt them eventually.

"No," Oliver said, shaking his head and reaching out to lay his hand on her arm.

Her jaw clenched a little and she blinked, looking over at Oliver a moment later, "are you sure he won't hurt anyone else?"

"He has no idea who he even is," he said quietly, gazing at her. "And where he's going, it's not to get better." He looked over at Bart. "Take him to Bats."

Chloe lowered her gun slowly and nodded, taking a deep breath as she felt the wind and suddenly, Lex was gone.

"It's over," he murmured, keeping his hand on her arm.

"Is it?" Dinah questioned, raising an eyebrow and looking at Chloe. "Oliver, are you really certain she's trustworthy?"

Chloe started to relax a little but when the woman spoke, her eyes narrowed instantly as she turned to look at the other blond, "a little too late to question his judgment, don't you think?"

Oliver's jaw tightened and he turned to look at Dinah.

"I don't question his judgment when it comes to Lex Luthor," Dinah said evenly. "But one can't help but question it when he's clearly infatuated with Lex's right hand trollop." She folded her arms across her chest.

" _Dinah_ , that's enough," Oliver snapped, glaring at her.

"Let's face it. If she were a guy, you'd be asking Zee to wipe out all of her memories right now, too. Just to be on the safe side."

Chloe walked around Oliver and toward Dinah, her eyes growing cold as a smirk appeared on her face, "and what reason would I have to trust someone who is dressed like a cheap hooker and seems to be completely useless within the team?" She smirked a little more, "were you perhaps hoping Oliver would be infatuated with you? Because it seems like he has better taste than that."

Dinah's eyes narrowed, and she took a step closer to Chloe. "Maybe I should demonstrate just how _useful_ I am," she said coldly.

"Okay, ladies, I think that's just about enough." AC stepped forward, getting between them, and turning to face Dinah. "Come on. Let's take a walk."

"Don't worry," Chloe called as the taller man dragged Dinah away, "I'll keep Oliver company."

"For a day or two maybe," Dinah said with a smirk. "Ollie's not a one woman kind of guy, are you, Ollie? Variety is the spice of life." She headed out of the room without another word.

Chloe shook her head a little and turned the safety back on her gun before sliding it into the purse she still had over her shoulder.

Oliver rubbed a hand over his face, his jaw tight. "We should get out of here," he said quietly, glancing around at the remaining members of the league.

Zatanna pursed her lips. "I'll finish up here."

"Finish what up?" Chloe asked, eyes narrowing now at the other woman, this time with curiosity.

"Wiping the guards' minds in case they saw or heard anything they shouldn't have," she explained, offering Chloe a small, uncertain smile. "But not like Lex's. Just today's memories."

"They won't be hurt or forget their families or anything, right?" Chloe asked, frowning more.

"No. Like I said, they just won't remember anything from today. Everything from yesterday and before will remain intact," she assured her. Then she held her hand out. "I'm Zatanna. Or Zee."

Chloe nodded, feeling a little better as she took the woman's hand, "Chloe," she told her, "thank you for your help."

"That's what we do." She smiled a bit more, shaking Chloe's hand. "Don't mind Dinah. She's kind of a bitch."

She tried for a smile at that and nodded, "thank you," she said again then took a deep breath, "whatever he has that belonged to your father, let me know and I'll make sure it gets back to you."

"I appreciate that," Zatanna said quietly, glancing over at Oliver and smiling faintly. "I'm going to get to work."

Oliver nodded. "Thanks, Zee," he said softly, watching as she headed for the door, Vic following her.

Chloe took a deep breath as he left and rubbed a hand over her face, "we can take one of the cars back to Metropolis," she said quietly.

"I think there's someone you should probably go see while we're in Smallville," Oliver said quietly, turning his head to look at her.

She blinked and paused, holding her breath and slowly turning to look at him, silent for a moment as she pursed her lips together, "are you sure she wants to see me?"

Oliver held her gaze, nodding slightly. "More than anything," he whispered.

Sighing deeply, she nodded then looked down, "what about him? Do you know?"

"Clark?" he asked, watching her carefully.

"Yes," she whispered.

Oliver hesitated a moment. "I don't think that Clark's...going to be quite as happy to see you," he admitted softly. "But for the record? Lois knows how he feels and she's been telling him that she doesn't care."

Chloe nodded a little, rubbing her hands over her face once more, "if she's by herself in her apartment, I'll go talk to her," she said unsure, she was afraid of how her cousin would react. Despite Oliver reassuring her, she definitely didn't want to have to face her and Clark at the same time.

"If she's not, I can deal with Clark," he said quietly, watching her. He hesitated, reaching out and touching her shoulder. "You're not alone, Chloe."

Her face fell a little when he said that, it was still somewhat overwhelming to hear the words, but she nodded, leaning slightly toward him.

Oliver wasn't sure what to make of her reaction--her expression contradicted her actions and he forced himself to take a deep breath. "It's gonna be okay." His voice was soft.

"We should go," she told him quietly, nodding and pursing her lips together before starting to open the door.

"Right," he murmured, following her slowly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Chloe paused for a moment then took a deep breath and turned to look at him, "will you go in with me?"

He paused, as well, meeting her eyes and holding his breath for a moment. "Yeah, of course."

She nodded and looked at him for a moment before continuing outside, her chest tight, she couldn't really think about anything, she just wanted to see Lois.


	17. Chapter 17

It had taken them less than ten minutes to drive from Lex's mansion to the Talon apartment that Lois was living in. Oliver parked the small car in front of the restaurant, glancing over at Chloe sideways. He could practically feel the tension and worry rolling off her and he reached out, resting a hand on top of hers. He hoped for her sake that Clark wasn't anywhere nearby. She and Lois had a lot to talk about.

"Are you ready?" he asked softly.

She stared at the Talon for a moment longer then nodded, turning her hand in his and squeezing his hand gently, her stomach painfully tight, she was slightly nauseated with nerves, but she nodded again, "yeah."

"Look at me," he whispered, giving her hand a gentle squeeze in return.

Chloe turned her head slowly and looked at him, pursing her lips together.

"She loves you," he told her gently. "She wouldn't have stuck around Smallville as long as she has if she didn't."

With a deep breath, Chloe nodded slightly, "I know," she whispered, "it's just... I know I really hurt her and I don't want to make it worse."

"You won't." His voice was quiet. "She understands a lot more than you think she does." He lifted his hand to her cheek without really thinking about it, brushing his thumb lightly over her skin.

Leaning into his touch, Chloe held his gaze and nodded a little, she trusted Oliver, _really_ trusted him. How could she not after everything he'd done for her? And he and her cousin seemed to be somewhat close, so she was going to have to trust him on that too.

Oliver's gaze darted to her mouth and he swallowed hard, his chest tightening. Now really wasn't the time. He offered her a gentle smile instead. "Come on," he murmured, turning off the engine and opening the driver's side door. He slid the keys into his coat pocket and let out a breath as he stepped outside once more.

With a deep breath she nodded and stepped out of the car too, her heart beating fast against her chest as she started toward the familiar building.

He reached out wordlessly, taking her hand in his as he led her into the Talon, which was fairly quiet. Smoothing his thumb lightly over the back of her hand, he guided her up the stairs, glancing at her a moment later as they stood outside the apartment door.

They made it to the top of the stairs a moment later and Chloe took a deep before knocking gently on the door. Better to get it over with now that they were there.

A moment later the door opened and Lois stood before them, her expression going from confused to surprised to hopeful in mere seconds. "Chloe?" Her voice cracked a little.

Chloe's chest tightened even more when she saw the look on Lois' face, she couldn't talk, she wasn't sure her voice would come out if she tried, so she just nodded slightly.

Lois shifted her gaze to look at Oliver.

He smiled softly at her, nodding, as well.

She let out a shuddering breath and launched herself forward, hugging Chloe tightly.

Her eyes widened just for a second but she didn't waste time and wrapped her arms around Lois just as tightly almost instantly, her eyes burning with tears, but she wasn't paying attention to that.

"I've missed you so much," Lois whispered, not letting go of her.

Chloe's jaw clenched and she swallowed hard. "missed you too," she whispered, holding on to Lois even tighter.

"Come on. Let's go inside," Oliver suggested softly, glancing downstairs toward the few patrons who were looking up at them curiously.

Lois pulled away just a little, hugging Chloe's arm to her own and tugging her toward the apartment.

Sniffing quietly, Chloe walked with Lois, barely noticing their surroundings as her cousin led her to the couch and they sat down side by side.

Oliver hung back by the door, wanting to give the women a little bit of privacy, but not wanting to leave without being certain Chloe was okay with that.

Lois lifted a hand to Chloe's cheek, studying her even through her tears. "You still look the same."

She swallowed hard and shook her head a little, "I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice cracking.

Her heart clenched painfully. "I know," she whispered back, hugging her tightly once more. "I know."

Chloe didn't protest, she just closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around her cousin, her chest so tight, it felt like it was burning, like everything she tried to push down and ignore during those four years was trying to come out all at once.

"Is he gone?" Lois whispered, knowing the only way that Chloe was ever going to come back to her and stay there was if Lex was somehow out of the picture.

She nodded slightly, sniffing and glancing toward where Oliver was standing, "yes," she whispered, looking back at her cousin, "thanks to him."

Lois looked up and over at Oliver for a moment, swallowing hard and then looking at Chloe once more. "He's a good guy."

"He is," Chloe whispered quietly, keeping her eyes on her cousin, "thank you for helping him."

She sniffed even as she smiled, nodding. "I never gave up," she admitted.

Her chest tightened even more at that and although Chloe had been trying to convince herself otherwise all along, deep down, she knew Lois hadn't given up on her, "I'm sorry, Lo." She whispered.

Lois nodded, a tear trickling down her face. "I know. I get it, Chloe," she whispered.

"I couldn't risk you getting hurt like--" she trailed off, tears running down her face too, she just had to explain.

She held her breath, then hugged her cousin tightly once more. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I wish I'd been here before."

Chloe closed her eyes and shook her head, "I didn't," she murmured, "I didn't want you to be in danger."

Lois kissed her temple, closing her eyes, as well. "It's okay," she whispered. "It's all over now. You're here."

"I missed you," Chloe said again, her voice barely above a whisper, everyone else she'd managed to stop thinking about, but she still dreamed about her cousin and her dad constantly, even if she was trying not to think of them. At least she got to be with one of them again.

"I missed you, too," Lois whispered, not letting go of her. She rested her head against her cousin's, letting out a deep breath. "Are you all right?"

Chloe nodded and sighed deeply, opening her eyes to look at her cousin, "yeah," she whispered, "are you?"

Lois gave her a watery, but sincere smile. "I am now."

She smiled a little back at Lois and relaxed slightly at that before wrapping her arms tightly around her once more and holding on to her as she closed her eyes again.

"I love you," she whispered, squeezing her just as tightly.

"Love you too," Chloe sniffed, just holding on to her cousin as tightly as she could.

Oliver's throat was tight as he watched the reunion unfolding before him. Rubbing a hand over his face, he ducked into the kitchen to give them a little more privacy.

After everything that had happened, they certainly needed it.

* * *

Chloe had ended up spending the night with her cousin, they had talked some, but mostly, they had just wanted to be around each other, make sure the other was okay. Oliver had taken Chloe's car back to Metropolis so Chloe got a ride from Lois when she headed to the Daily Planet the following morning.

Instead of asking her cousin to drop her off at her apartment, however, she asked to be taken to the Clocktower. She had the feeling there would be reporters all over her apartment as she had no doubt people were probably starting to wonder where Lex was already, she knew he had meetings in Metropolis the previous night and early this morning and when Lex Luthor doesn't show up for things, there are a lot of people who will waste no time trying to find him.

On top of that, she felt like she and Oliver really needed to talk, so she didn't hesitate before pressing the buzzer from the elevator so he could let her in, she just hoped he was there.

He glanced up at the monitor as he sat behind his desk, tired after a very long night of patrolling. He held his breath for a moment as he spotted Chloe there. Frankly he was surprised she was there so early. He'd figured he wouldn't hear from her for a couple of days at least. Or more that Lois wouldn't let her out of her sight for a couple of days. He reached out and pressed the button. "Come on up."

He winced a little as he leaned back in his chair for a moment, one of his shoulders still aching. He rose to his feet, rubbing a hand over his face, waiting.

Chloe stepped into the apartment a moment later, relieved that he had been there, "are you busy?" She asked, not sure how to act around him now that she didn't have to pretend or play games.

"No," he said quietly, motioning to the sofa. "Make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink?"

"I'm okay," she said, shaking her head a little, "thank you."

"Sure." Oliver watched her for a moment, then slowly moved over to sit down. "Uh, so Zee did a little overtime on your behalf. Whenever the news breaks about Lex's trip to Arkham, you're going to be in charge of all things LuthorCorp, as well as in charge of his personal estate."

Chloe was making her way toward the couch to join him when she heard the words and stilled, her eyes widening, "what?"

He gazed at her. "It's yours until Lex is declared legally competent--which we know will be never."

"Oh," she said quietly, then blinked looking away then back at him, "thank you."

"If anyone deserved it, it's you, Chloe," he said sincerely. "After everything the Luthors put you through..." His jaw tightened a little.

"It will be easier to have access to all of Lex's projects that way, make sure no one else is being hurt." She said, looking down again, thinking about it.

"That too," he agreed, nodding a little.

"Lois went to the Planet to see if anyone is already talking about it, she offered to break the story otherwise," she told him, walking over to sit next to him.

"Good." His voice was soft as he glanced sideways at her. "Another win for Team Justice."

"Is that what you call yourselves?" She asked, turning to look at him too.

A smile touched his mouth. "Justice League," he told her with a slight shrug, looking down at his hands.

"Sounds like a fitting name," she said quietly, watching him for a moment before hesitantly reaching over and covering his hands with one of hers.

Oliver gazed down at their hands for a long moment before lifting his gaze to meet hers, his chest tightening.

Chloe pursed her lips together and looked at him, her own chest tight, "thank you, Oliver." She said sincerely, searching his eyes.

He smiled faintly at that, nodding slowly. "You're welcome," he said just as sincerely, giving her hands a light squeeze.

She smiled softly at him and nodded a little, still watching him closely.

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "So what's next for Chloe Sullivan?" he asked quietly.

Chloe took a deep breath and shook her head a little, "I don't know," she told him quietly, "work things out with Lois and try to take care of my mom, I guess."

He gazed at her, his expression softening at the mention of her mother. "I've got the best doctors money can buy working on her case," he said softly.

Nodding slightly, her own eyes softened at that, "thank you," she whispered, "that really means a lot to me."

He hesitated a moment, then wrapped an arm around her, hugging her lightly.

She pulled her hand from over his and wrapped her arm around his front, shifting closer to him.

Oliver shut his eyes, resting his head against hers for a moment, swallowing hard. "Are you all right?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," she whispered, closing her eyes, "I'm getting there."

He rested a hand on the back of her head gently. "Good," he whispered back. "If there's anything I can do to help, all you have to do is let me know."

Chloe pulled her head back a little to look up at him, "after everything you've done, I can't ask you for anything else."

Oliver gave her a lopsided smile. "Technically you haven't _asked_ for anything."

"I wouldn't have, but I'm still grateful that you did." She said quietly.

"I'm a stubborn guy," he admitted, shrugging a little.

"I've noticed," she smiled softly, looking at him, "almost as bad as I am," she teased quietly.

"I think it's safe to say you've given me a run for my money," he said with faint amusement.

"I think that goes both ways," she said sincerely, "we did get here."

Oliver nodded slightly at that. "We did."

Chloe hesitated for a second, her stomach clenching a little as she shifted on the couch, "I guess we should talk about this."

He held his breath for a moment. "Yeah, I guess we should," he agreed, looking down at the floor for a moment.

She pursed her lips together and nodded, looking down too, "I know this is a really messed up start..." she said quietly.

A short chuckle escaped him. "Yeah. It kind of is," he agreed, glancing at her sideways. "So uh...where do we go from here?" he asked softly. "Or do we?"

"I like you," she admitted quietly, "but I understand if you don't want to take this anywhere right now considering I'm kind of a mess."

Oliver gazed at her silently for a moment. "I like you, too," he admitted. "And considering the nice things Dinah had to say about me yesterday, I won't be offended if _you're_ not interested."

Chloe made a face and rolled her eyes, shaking her head, "I'm not going to base my opinions of you on what some woman I never met said, Oliver," she told him firmly.

He pursed his lips, gazing at her intently. "It's no secret I have a reputation, Chloe," he said quietly. "And I'd be lying if I said most of it wasn't true."

"The reputation you have and what I've seen of you are two different things," she told him honestly, "and I have the feeling one is more you than the other."

Oliver paused at that, hesitantly lifting a hand to her cheek, searching her eyes. Then he leaned in and brushed his mouth over hers lightly, closing his eyes.

She blinked, surprised, her chest tightening instantly as she closed her eyes and leaned a little closer.

He slid his hand up and into her hair, tangling there gently as he slanted his lips over hers, slowly deepening the kiss, sparks of electricity making his skin tingle.

Chloe made a quiet noise as she shifted closer to him, lifting her hands to his arms.

He groaned softly at the noise she made, shifting her onto his lap without really thinking about it.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him, kissing him deeply as she pressed her body closer to his.

Oliver settled one hand at the small of her back, the other moving to rest against her hip as his body reacted instinctively to hers. He broke the kiss a moment later, panting for breath before dropping his mouth to her jaw.

She shivered and kept her eyes closed for a moment before opening it and taking a deep breath, "wait," she whispered.

He froze instantly, pulling away to look at her. "Sorry," he murmured.

"No," Chloe said quietly, shaking her head as she looked down at him, "you didn't do anything wrong," she told him, taking a deep breath, "but maybe... we can go slower?"

He offered her a small, almost embarrassed smile. "Right. Of course." His voice was soft and he kissed the corner of her mouth softly before pulling away.

Her chest tightened a little as she cupped his cheek, searching his eyes, "I just want to make sure I don't screw anything else up."

Oliver gazed at her. "You and me both," he said quietly, leaning into her touch.

Chloe pursed her lips together, watching him closely then nodded a little and kissed his cheek before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him a little closer into a hug.

He shut his eyes, hugging her in return and rubbing her back gently. "Are you hungry?" he asked quietly. "I could fix something for breakfast. Maybe eggs and bacon or...I don't know. Pancakes or French toast."

She raised her eyebrows and pulled back to look at him once again, raising her eyebrows, "you can cook?"

Oliver flashed her a grin. "Let's just say there's a lot you don't know about me yet, Chloe."

"Apparently," she smiled softly, lifting a hand to his cheek and shrugging a little, "I look forward to finding out more."

His eyes were bright as he gazed back at her. "So do I."

Her chest clenched a little and she nodded, leaning in and kissing the corner of his mouth again. It was going to be hard to suddenly let him and Lois in her life completely again, but she was very lucky that after everything she had done, they still wanted to be a part of her life at all and she wasn't going to forget that.

"Come on." He wrapped his arms around her, picking her up effortlessly as he rose to his feet, then set her on her own. "It's a new day. Let's start it off right."

She took a deep breath and nodded a little as she set her feet on the ground, "and enjoy the little peace and quiet before the story breaks." She agreed.

"And before your new rise to fame kicks in," he teased lightly, reaching out for her hand.

Chloe wrinkled her nose and linked her fingers through his, "lucky for me, I have someone very experienced with it to hold my hand through it."

Oliver smiled softly at that. "Yes, you do."

She squeezed his hand a little and nodded, holding his gaze, "then I consider myself very lucky," she said sincerely.

He turned to face her, taking her other hand, as well. He smiled at her, lifting one of her hands to his mouth and kissing it softly. "That makes two of us."

Nodding slowly, she kept her eyes on him and smiled softly then squeezed his hand again. Part of her expected for the tenderness to hurt like it had before, but it didn't. Instead, it gave her hope.


End file.
